Epidermal Growth Factor-mediated Growth-inhibition And Migration Of Esophageal Cancer Cell Lines EC109 And EC-1 In Vitro

[Background and objective]Epidermal growth factor(EGF) is a polypeptide hormone. Binding of EGF to the extracellular domain of EGFR activates the receptor and its signaling pathways, which results in various biological effects. Presently, there are many studies on the biological effects of EGF. Activation of the EGFR tyrosine kinase results in the generation of a number of intracellular signals, which culminate in not only cell proliferation but also other processes that are crucial to cancer progression, including angiogenesis, metastatic spread, and the inhibition of apoptosis. However, recent work demonstrated that EGF can also inhibit cell growth and induce apoptosis in some cells which overexpress EGFR, such as A431 and MDA-MB-468 cells.There are also many different reports about the effects of EGF on esophageal cancer cell lines. It was found that EGF can also induce chemotaxis and cell mobility in recent years. But till now, there is no research focousing on migration-induced effect of EGF on esophageal cancer cell lines. Here, to study the effect of EGF on esophageal cancer cell lines EC109 and EC-1 in culture, the morphological change were observed using phase contrast microscope; relative cell viability was evaluated by MTT assay; terminal apoptosis was detected with AO staining and flowcytometry; and the mobility and invasion were evaluated by scattering assay and wound-healing assay; the cytoskeleton was observed by Confocal Laser Scaning Microscope (CLSM); the expression of EGFR was evaluated by Western-blot. [Materials and methods]1.The esophageal cancer cell lines EC109 and EC-1 were treated with different concentration EGF, the morphological change were observed using phase contrast...