Cancer stem cell model and nasopharyngeal carcinogenesis

EB病毒(EBV)与鼻咽癌的关系已知。然而，鼻咽癌的发生机制尚不清楚。在本研究中，我们发现EB病毒潜伏膜蛋白1(LMP1)是一种病毒癌蛋白，它通过转录因子Twist和Snail诱导鼻咽上皮细胞发生形态改变和上皮-间充质转化。此外，比较有无LMP1表达的细胞ABCG2、Nanog、Nestin、Oct4、KLF4和c-Myc的表达，发现LMP1可诱导鼻咽上皮细胞系中的肿瘤干/祖细胞。

Association of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) with nasopharyngela carcinoma is know. However, mechanism of nasopharyngeal carcinogenesis is not clarified yet. In the present study, we showed that EBV latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1), a viral oncoprotein, induced a cellular morphorogical change as well as epithelial-mesenchymal transition through transcription factors including Twist and snail in nasopharyngeal epithelial cells. Furthermore, comparison of expression of ABCG2, Nanog, Nestin, Oct4, KLF4 and c-Myc between cells with and without LMP1 expression revealed that LMP1 induced cancer stem/progenitor-like cells in nasopharyngeal epithelial cell lines.