Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Dec 15, 2022; 14(12): 2340-2352
Published online Dec 15, 2022. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v14.i12.2340
Inhibition of bromodomain-containing protein 4 enhances the migration of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cells by inducing cell autophagy
Wen-Qian Yang, Rui Liang, Man-Qi Gao, Yu-Zhen Liu, Bo Qi, Bao-Sheng Zhao
Wen-Qian Yang, Rui Liang, Man-Qi Gao, Yu-Zhen Liu, Bo Qi, Bao-Sheng Zhao, Department of Thoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Weihui 453100, Henan Province, China
Wen-Qian Yang, Rui Liang, Man-Qi Gao, Yu-Zhen Liu, Bao-Sheng Zhao, Esophageal Cancer Institute, Xinxiang Medical University, Weihui 453100, Henan Province, China
Wen-Qian Yang, Rui Liang, Yu-Zhen Liu, Life Science Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Weihui 453100, Henan Province, China
Author contributions: Liu YZ and Zhao BS designed and coordinated the study; Yang WQ, Liang R, Gao MQ and Qi B performed the experiments, acquired and analyzed data; Yang WQ, Liu YZ and Zhao BS interpreted the data; Yang WQ, Liu YZ and Zhao BS wrote the manuscript; all authors approved the final version of the article.
Supported by the Key Project of Science and Technology of Xinxiang, No. GG2020027; and the Health Commission of Henan Province of China, No. SBGJ202102188.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that no conflict of interest exists in this study.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Bao-Sheng Zhao, BMed, Chief Physician, Professor, Department of Thoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, No. 88 Jiankang Road, Weihui 453100, Henan Province, China. drbszhao@xxmu.edu.cn
Received: August 11, 2022
Peer-review started: August 11, 2022
First decision: October 5, 2022
Revised: October 17, 2022
Accepted: November 16, 2022
Article in press: November 16, 2022
Published online: December 15, 2022
Processing time: 123 Days and 2.8 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: It has been demonstrated that bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4) as a transcriptional regulator promotes tumor development. Thus, targeting of BRD4 has recently emerged as a promising anti-cancer therapeutic strategy. We present here that BRD4 inhibition suppresses esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cell proliferation, but promotes ESCC cell migration by induction of autophagy, which further facilities epithelial-mesenchymal transition process. Our study implies that the migration-promoting effect should be carefully considered when clinical targeting BRD4 as anti-cancer approach and combination with autophagy inhibitor might be a new therapeutic strategy to avoid the deleterious role of BRD4-targeted strategies.