ArticlePloS one2013
Enhanced IL-6/IL-6R signaling promotes growth and malignant properties in EBV-infected premalignant and cancerous nasopharyngeal epithelial cells.
Article in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers.
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Who cites it
50 citing papers in PubMed, 90 citations in OpenAlex.
- Nasopharyngeal carcinoma: epidemiology, risk factors, signaling pathways, clinical features, diagnosis, and management.Molecular biomedicine · 2026Review
- Network analysis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia and Epstein-Barr virus co-infection.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- A review on the role of IL-6 in the onset and progression of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Medical oncology (Northwood, London, England) · 2025Review
- Active EBV infection in children: associations between DNA load, infection status, immune status, and disease severity.Virology journal · 2025Article
- Association of the IL-10 and IL-18 polymorphisms with nasopharyngeal carcinoma risk.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Article
- The plasma EBV DNA load with IL-6 and VEGF levels as predictive and prognostic biomarker in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Virology journal · 2024Article
- Review
- Ferroptosis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: from pathogenesis to treatment.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Review
- Contribution of Epstein-Barr Virus Lytic Proteins to Cancer Hallmarks and Implications from Other Oncoviruses.Cancers · 2023Review
- Epstein-Barr Virus Regulates Endothelin-1 Expression through the ERK/FOXO1 Pathway in EBV-Associated Gastric Cancer.Microbiology spectrum · 2023Article
- Differential gene expression of immunity and inflammation genes in colorectal cancer using targeted RNA sequencing.Frontiers in oncology · 2023Article
- Mechanisms of T cell evasion by Epstein-Barr virus and implications for tumor survival.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Review
- Worsening Rhinosinusitis as a Prognostic Factor for Patients with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: A Retrospective Study.Biomedicines · 2022Article
- Development of Epstein-Barr virus-associated gastric cancer: Infection, inflammation, and oncogenesis.World journal of gastroenterology · 2022Review
- Epstein-Barr virus-induced ectopic CD137 expression helps nasopharyngeal carcinoma to escape immune surveillance and enables targeting by chimeric antigen receptors.Cancer immunology, immunotherapy : CII · 2022Article
- The emergence of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in nasopharyngeal carcinoma: Predictive value and immunotherapy implications.Genes & diseases · 2022Review
- Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase gene expression and kynurenine to tryptophan ratio correlation with nasopharyngeal carcinoma progression and survival.Immunity, inflammation and disease · 2022Article
- Article
- Mechanisms of Anergic Inflammatory Response in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Cells Despite Ubiquitous Constitutive NF-κB Activation.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2022Article
- Review
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 6 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is etiologically associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. However, the exact role of EBV in NPC pathogenesis remains elusive. Activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) is common in human cancers including NPC and plays an important role in the pathogenesis and progression of human cancers. Interleukin-6 (IL-6), a major inflammatory cytokine, is a potent activator of STAT3. In this study, we report that EBV-infected immortalized nasopharyngeal epithelial (NPE) cells often acquire an enhanced response to IL-6-induced STAT3 activation to promote their growth and invasive properties. Interestingly, this enhanced IL-6/STAT3 response was mediated by overexpression of IL-6 receptor (IL-6R). Furthermore, IL-6R overexpression enhanced IL-6-induced STAT3 activation in uninfected immortalized NPE cells in vitro, and promoted growth and tumorigenicity of EBV-positive NPC cell line (C666-1) in vivo. Moreover, it is shown for the first time that IL-6R was overexpressed in clinical specimens of NPC. IL-6 expression could also be strongly detected in the stromal cells of NPC and a higher circulating level of IL-6 was found in the sera of advance-staged NPC patients compared to the control subjects. Therefore, IL-6R overexpression, coupled with enhanced IL-6/STAT3 signaling may facilitate the malignant transformation of EBV-infected premalignant NPE cells into cancer cells, and enhance malignant properties of NPC cells.
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