Objective: The purpose of this project was to investigate the expression of Dishevelled-3 (Dvl3) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and cultured cells, and to determine the consequence of Dvl3 silencing in the tumorous properties of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cells.
Patients and methods: The expression of Dvl3 mRNA and protein in 50 cases of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma was detected. The expression of Dvl3 mRNA and protein was significantly elevated in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma tissues compared with atypical hyperplasia and normal esophageal mucosa.
Results: Dvl3 promoted the proliferation of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cells and cell migration of cells expressing Dvl3 siRNA was significantly lower than that of the non-transfected cells. Flow cytometry showed that silencing Dvl3 promoted apoptosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Dvl3 overexpression cells in the subcutaneous tissue of nude mice promoted the formation of tumors. The expression of Dvl3 was associated with invasion and metastasis of the esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
Conclusions: Overall, down-regulation of Dvl3 expression can control the progression of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, inhibit the growth and promote the apoptosis of tumor cells. Thus, Dvl3 has potential applications for early diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutics in the esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.