Murine Double Minute 2 Antagonist Nutlin-3 Enhanced Chemosensitivity in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Background/aim: Murine double minute 2 (MDM2) is well known to inhibit p53 function and its over-expression is associated with poor prognosis in several human malignancies. Nutlin-3, a small-molecule inhibitor of MDM2, exerts antitumor effects on various solid tumors harboring wild-type p53. We aimed to clarify its effects on esophageal cancer.

Materials and methods: We first examined the potential antitumor effects of nutlin-3 according to MDM2 status using esophageal carcinoma cell lines (KYSE 170/180). We then immunolocalized MDM2 immunoreactivity in 62 surgical cases of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by esophagectomy and correlated the findings with clinicopathological variables.

Results: MDM2 mRNA expression in KYSE 170 was significantly higher than that in KYSE 180 cells. No significant changes were detected in both cell lines when nutlin-3 was added. However, cell proliferation was significantly decreased in KYSE 170 cells treated with nutlin-3 and cisplatin compared to cisplatin alone but not in KYSE 180. MDM2 immunoreactivity was also significantly associated with poor sensitivity to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in the cases examined.

Conclusion: The combination of nutlin-3 with chemotherapeutic agents may become a novel therapeutic strategy in esophageal cancer over-expressing MDM2.

Related Products

Cat.No.	Product Name	Information
S1061	Nutlin-3	Nutlin-3 is a potent and selective Mdm2 (RING finger-dependent ubiquitin protein ligase for itself and p53) antagonist with IC50 of 90 nM in a cell-free assay; stabilizes p73 in p53-deficient cells.

Related Targets

E3 Ligase MDM2/MDMX