Sequestosome 1 protects esophageal squamous carcinoma cells from apoptosis via stabilizing SKP2 under serum starvation condition.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the malignancies in digestive system, with a low 5-year survival rate. We previously revealed that Sequestosome 1 (SQSTM1/p62) protein levels were upregulated in ESCC tissues. However, it is unclear about the function of p62 and the underlying mechanism. Here, we used immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry to investigate the expression of p62 in ESCC. Western blotting, quantitative RT-PCR, colony formation assay, flow cytometry, immunoprecipitation and xenograft tumor assay were used to analyze the role of p62 in vitro and vivo. Here, we showed that p62 serves as a regulator of cell apoptosis under serum starvation condition in ESCC cells. Through activating the protein kinase C iota (PKCiota)—S-phase kinase-associated protein 2 (SKP2) signaling pathway, p62 enhances cell apoptosis resistance and colony formation in vitro and tumor growth in mouse models. Through interaction with the domains PB1, p62 upregulated the expression of PKCiota and then depressed the ubiquitin-mediated proteasomal degradation of SKP2. p62-silencing combined with a PKCiota inhibitor ATM significantly enhanced cell apoptosis and inhibited cell survival. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed a positive association between the expression of p62 and SKP2 in primary ESCC tissues. And importantly, p62 presented a markedly cytoplasmic translocation in cancerous cells, including in 16 (30.76%) tumors at stage T1, as compared with its nuclear location in normal esophageal epithelial cells. In summary, p62 plays an anti-apoptotic role in ESCC cells via stabilizing SKP2 under serum starvation condition. These data suggest that p62 might be an early biomarker and a candidate therapeutic target of ESCC.