Taken together, our results initially suggest the potential application of the Fe(II) complex in ESCC chemotherapy, especially for patients with TFR1 overexpression.
Here, we established a method to identify and isolate CSCs in ESCC using fluorescence-activated cell sorting with combined surface biomarkers including CD71, CD271, and CD338.
Subsequent in vitro assays using short interfering RNA (siRNA) to suppress CD71 expression confirmed the tumorigenic properties of CD71 in ESCC; cell growth inhibition and cell cycle arrest at S phase were observed in CD71-suppressed cells.
This study analyzed the clinical effect of messenger RNA (mRNA) expression for PIK3CA (the gene that encodes phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase catalytic alpha-polypeptide) and TFRC (the gene that encodes the transferrin receptor), which map within chromosome 3q in ESCC.