Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the lethal malignancies commonly found in the eastern world, with overall five-year survival rates less than 25%. The present study aimed to investigate the biological function of annexin A3 (ANXA3) in ESCC cell proliferation. The mRNA and protein levels of ANXA3 in ESCC tissues and cell lines were determined by real-time PCR and Western blot, respectively. Lentiviral transduction was applied to overexpress or reduce ANXA3 expression in ESCC cell lines. The effect of ANXA3 on ESCC cell proliferation was evaluated by cell-counting kit-8 assay in vitro and tumor-bearing animal model in vivo. We found that ANXA3 was substantially upregulated in ESCC tissues compared to adjacent normal tissues as well as ESCC cell lines compared to normal esophageal endothelial cells. Suppression of ANXA3 significantly inhibited ESCC cell proliferation in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. We further revealed that NF-κB was involved in ANXA3-mediated ESCC cell proliferation. Our results suggest that ANXA3 acts as an oncogene in ESCC, and targeting ANXA3 or NF-κB may serve as potential therapeutic strategies for patients with ESCC.

食管鳞状细胞癌 (ESCC) 是东部世界常见的致命恶性肿瘤之一，总体五年生存率低于 25%。本研究旨在探讨膜联蛋白 A3 (ANXA3) 在 ESCC 细胞增殖中的生物学功能。分别通过实时荧光定量 PCR 和蛋白质印迹测定 ESCC 组织和细胞系中 ANXA3 的 mRNA 和蛋白质水平。应用慢病毒转导来过表达或减少 ESCC 细胞系中的 ANXA3 表达。ANXA3 对 ESCC 细胞增殖的影响通过体外细胞计数 kit-8 测定和体内荷瘤动物模型进行评估。我们发现，与邻近的正常组织相比，在 ESCC 组织中 ANXA3 显着上调，与正常食管内皮细胞相比，在 ESCC 细胞系中 ANXA3 显着上调。ANXA3 的抑制显着抑制体外ESCC 细胞增殖和体内肿瘤生长。我们进一步揭示了 NF-κB 参与了 ANXA3 介导的 ESCC 细胞增殖。我们的研究结果表明，ANXA3 在 ESCC 中充当癌基因，靶向 ANXA3 或 NF-κB 可作为 ESCC 患者的潜在治疗策略。