Abstract: OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the proliferation and invasiveness of two different esophageal squamous carcinoma (ESCC) cell lines, EC109 cells and KYSE510 cells. METHODS: MTT assay and invasiveness assay were used to explore the proliferation and invasiveness of EC109 cells and KYSE510 cells in vitro. Then, tumor formation assay in the nude mice was employed to analyze the tumorigenesis and footpad tumor model was used to assess the metastasis in lymph nodes of the two cell lines. Finally, the expressions of E-cadherin, γ-cadherin and Vimentin were detected to estimate the involvement of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). RESULTS: In vitro experiments showed that EC109 cells proliferated faster than KYSE510 cells and the invasiveness of EC109 cells was higher than that of KYSE510 cells. The tumorigenesis of EC109 cells was greater than KYSE510 and the metastasis in lymph nodes was found more frequently in EC109 cells. Furthermore, expressions of E-cadherin and γ-cadherin were down-regulated in EC109 cells as compared to KYSE510 cells, while the level of Vimentin was up-regulated. CONCLUSION: EC109 was a ESCC cell line with high potential of proliferation and invasiveness and KYSE510 was not. The difference in proliferation and invasiveness between these two cell lines might be mediated by EMT.

Key words: esophageal squamous carcinoma cells, cell proliferation, cell invasiveness