Cancer Management and Research (Sep 2020)
High Expression of Nuclear Transcription Factor-κB is Associated with Cisplatin Resistance and Prognosis for Ovarian Cancer
Abstract
Yanyan Kan,1– 4 Juntian Liu,1– 4 Fangxuan Li1– 4 1Department of Cancer Prevention, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China; 2National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China; 3Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China; 4Tianjin’s Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Tianjin, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Fangxuan LiDepartment of Cancer Prevention, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Huanhuxi Road, Hexi District, Tianjin 300060, People’s Republic of ChinaTel/Fax +86-22-23340123Email [email protected]: Abnormal activation of the nuclear transcription factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling pathway plays a crucial role in the chemoresistance of tumor cells. This study aimed to explore the significance of NF-κB in the chemoresistance of ovarian cancer.Materials: We performed immunohistochemical staining for evaluating the expression of NF-κB in cancer tissues. The MTT assay was performed for analyzing cell proliferation, Western blotting was performed to quantify NF-κB p65, and flow cytometry was used to determine the apoptosis rate.Results: Nuclear NF-κB p65 over-expression was closely associated with ovarian cancer with advanced FIGO stage, residual disease ≥ 1 cm, low histologic grade, platinum resistance and refractory, chemotherapy resistance (P< 0.05). FIGO stage I–II and residual disease < 1 cm were associated with complete response (CR) to chemotherapy, while FIGO stage I–II, residual disease < 1cm and absence of lymph node (LN) metastasis were associated with platinum sensitivity. In multivariate logistic regression, residual disease ≥ 1 cm was a risk factor for response to chemotherapy, while the over-expression of nuclear NF-κB p65 was a risk factor for sensitivity to chemotherapy. In the ROC curves, nuclear NF-κB p65 expression had the discriminative ability for sensitivity to chemotherapy (AUC = 0.637, P = 0.021). Furthermore, nuclear NF-κB p65 expression was an independent prognostic factor. Western blotting showed that NF-κB p65 level in cisplatin-resistant cells (C13* and A2780cp) was significantly higher than that in cisplatin-sensitive cells (OV2008 and A2780s) (P < 0.05), and this increased expression could be suppressed by NF-κB inhibitor-PDTC treatment. The proliferation inhibitory rates of cisplatin in C13* and A2780cp cells increased after PDTC treatment in a concentration-dependent manner. PDTC treatment could also enhance cisplatin-induced apoptosis.Conclusion: NF-κB was associated with the clinicopathological features, chemoresistance, and prognosis of ovarian cancer. The NF-κB inhibitor PDTC can enhance cisplatin sensitivity of platinum-resistant C13* and A2780cp ovarian cancer cells.Keywords: ovarian cancer, NF-κB, cisplatin resistance, chemoresistance, PDTC
