Clinical significance of Laminin-332 and its potential as a therapeutic target

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Inactivation of the AKT pathway by laminin-332 blocking antibody suppressed the invasiveness of esophageal cancer cell line. The addition of the purified laminin-332 activated the AKT pathway and increased the invasiveness of cell line. These results indicate that Laminin-332 could contribute to the malignant behavior of esophageal cancer through AKT pathway. mTOR is a key molecule in the AKT pathway and is increasingly important as a potential target for anticancer therapy. Thus, we focused on revealing clinical usefulness of mTOR inhibitor in esophageal cancer. p-mTOR overexpression was independently associated with poor prognosis in ESCC, supporting the potential for mTOR as a therapeutic target for ESCC. We are currently performing further in vitro and in vivo study to clarify the antitumor effect of RAD001 (mTOR inhibitor) on ESCC.