Calcium channel α2δ1 subunit is a functional marker and therapeutic target for tumor-initiating cells in non-small cell lung cancer

摘要

A Transcriptome analysis shows the relative expression of the indicated molecules in NSCLC tissues including lung adenocarcinoma (n = 125) and squamous carcinoma (n = 224) compared with those in normal tissues (n = 54) from the TCGA database. *p ≤ 0.05, **p ≤ 0.001, n.s., no significance, P > 0.05, Mann–Whitney test. B Represented images showing the dissected tumors formed by 1000 cells per site of the indicated fractions purified by FACS from A549 cell line (n = 5). Scale bars, 2 cm. C Immunofluorescent staining for α2δ1 with mAb 1B50-1 in A549 cells and cryostat section of primary NSCLC tissue. Nuclei were stained with DAPI. Scale bar, 50 µm. D The relative expression levels of α2δ1 to GAPDH mRNA in NSCLC tissues and paired normal tissues adjacent to tumors (n = 83) as measured by qRT-PCR. E, F Kaplan–Meier curves showing the disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) of the patients with high and low levels of α2δ1 mRNA in NSCLC tissues, which were divided according to the cutoff of 0.0155, the median value of α2δ1 relative to GAPDH mRNA. G Western blot results showing the expression of α2δ1 protein in 12 pairs of fresh NSCLC (T) and adjacent normal (N) tissues.