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Interferon ( IFN)-β has efficient antitumor effect both in vitro and in vivo, but its clinical implication is limited by short half-life and systemic toxicities. Gene therapy could be the choice to avoid the defects. Adenovirus vector containing human IFN-β gene was transfected into esophageal squamous cell carcinoma KYSE150 cells. Expression of human (h) IFN-β was detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and immunocytochemistry in KYSE150 cells. Cell growth and clonogenic assays, and flow cytometry were used to observe the antiproliferation effect and apoptosis on tumor cells, respectively. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and immunocytochemistry showed obvious h IFN-β expression in KYSE150 cells after transfection and the tumor cell proliferation was obviously inhibited through cell proliferation and clonogenic assays. Flow cytometry analysis showed 27.3% cell apoptosis in adenovirus vector containing human IFN-β gene transfection group compared with 1.12% in empty vector control group. These findings indicate that h IFN-β gene mediated by recombinant adenovirus may have antitumor activity against human esophageal carcinoma cell by inducing apoptosis in vitro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mammalian cyclin-dependent kinase subunit ( Cks) family has two members, Cks1 and Cks2. Overexpression of Cks1 and Cks2 has been reported to be associated with high aggressiveness and poor prognosis in several malignancies, including prostate and hepatocellular carcinomas. However, whether Cks1 and Cks2 are overexpressed in esophageal carcinoma remains uncharacterized. To investigate whether overexpression of the Cks family is clinically relevant in esophageal carcinoma, and whether expression patterns of Cks1 and Cks2 can serve as biomarkers for esophageal carcinoma. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, immunohistochemistry, and Western blot analyses were applied to detect the expression of Cks1 and Cks2 at the mRNA and protein levels, respectively. The associations between Cks1 or Cks2 expressions and clinical features and p27kip1 expressions in esophageal carcinoma were analyzed. Comparing with the adjacent noncancerous tissues, esophageal carcinoma exhibited elevated expression of Cks1 in 58% cases at the mRNA level and 54% cases at the protein level, and elevated expression of Cks2 in 65% cases at the mRNA level and 61% cases at the protein level, respectively. The expressions of both Cks1 and Cks2 were negatively associated with the p27kip1 protein level in the tumor tissues. Furthermore, overexpression of Cks1 and Cks2 in esophageal carcinoma was closely associated with poor pathological features of esophageal carcinoma, including higher histologic grade of tumor, regional lymph nodes invasion, and neoplastic embolus. Overexpression of Cks1 and Cks2 is associated with the aggressive tumor behaviors of esophageal carcinoma. Further efforts are needed to determine whether overexpression of Cks1 and Cks2 can serve as novel biomarkers for esophageal carcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]