Aberrant Activation Of The Hedgehog Pathway In Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma（NPC）is a very common head and neck cancer in thechina Southern world.Despite advances in surgical and chemotherapeutic approaches,it’s very hard to discovery.It was widely reported that hedgehog signaling pathway isexpress in many cancer. However, it remains unclear whether this pathway isactivated in NPC.Here we have tested the hypothesis that the hedgehog signaling isimplicated in NPC.By RT-PCR,Hedgehog pathway components PTCH、smo and Gli-1are express in all adult human Nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissues and celllines.Real-time pcr demonstrate the transcription of PTCH1and GLI-1are enhancedlevels in carcinoma versus Nasopharyngitis epithelia, but SMO is not. The expressionof GLI-1also high in NPC than NPI by IHC.Blocking the pathway with cyclopamineinhibits the proliferation of Nasopharyngeal carcinoma epithelia cell lines. In addition,blockade the pathway in three Nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell lines with cyclopamineinduce tumor cell apoptosis. All of this suggesting that Hedgehog pathway may often sustain Nasopharyngeal tumor growth. Our data demonstrate the hedgehog signalingpathway is function in NPC and suggest a novel therapeutic approach for furture.Thus, our data indicate that hedgehog signaling activation is an important event fordevelopment of human NPC.