How can we prevent the occurrence of esophageal cancer and increase the survival rate
of patients
Xuping Wu
Esophageal cancer is a highly invasive disease with low survival rates. It is the sixth leading
cause of cancer death worldwide. It has high incidence in Asia. In Sweden, 400 new cases of
esophageal cancer are diagnosed every year. Risk factors include smoking and alcohol. It is
hard to predict this cancer. When patients feel pain or swallowing problems, the cancer has
usually already proceeded to advanced stages. The first choice of treatment is surgery if the
disease is in an early stage. However, in many cases cancer cells invade to lymph nodes
resulting in a high relapse rate. So, prediction markers are needed to be developed to detect
esophageal cancer earlier.
There are lots of reports about proteins that exist in cancer cells and can enhance cell growth.
These proteins can be considered as markers when cells change their status to become
malignant cancer cells. Also, some of these proteins can serve as drug targets to treat cancer.
In this project, some markers for esophageal cancer were sought to permit earlier detect ion of
esophageal cancer and thereby increase the survival rate of patients. Esophageal cancer cells
were cultured and disrupted by using detergent. Then, proteins containing phosphorylated
tyrosine residue were purified using anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies coupled to agarose.
Focal adhesion kinase which is involved in cell junction was found in our cancer cells, and
there are reports concerning esophageal cancer that this kinase can serve as a biomarker. Heat
shock protein 90, which is commonly discovered in other cancer cells, was also found. I used
an inhibitor of heat shock protein 90 to treat esophageal cancer cells and found a strong
inhibition of esophageal cancer cell growth. This result implies that this inhibitor, which is
already in clinic trials for other cancers, could be used in the treatment of esophageal cancer.
Examensarbete i biologi, 20 p
Biology Education Centre, Dept of Oncology, Radiology and Clinical Immunology, Rudbeck
Laboratory and Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Uppsala University.
Supervisors: Johan Lennartsson and Simon Ekman