Epidermal growth factor receptor vIII enhances tumorigenicity and resistance to 5-fluorouracil in human hepatocellular carcinoma

We investigated whether EGFRvIII contributes to tumorigenicity and resistance to 5-FU in HCC cell lines. Our results show that several HCC cell lines have EGFRvIII expression. EGFRvIII-positive HCC cells grew more rapidly and had a lower sensitivity to 5-FU than EGFRvIII-negative HCC cells. For further analysis of the biological characteristics of EGFRvIII, an EGFRvIII or EGFR expression cassette was introduced into the HCC cell line, Huh-7. Compared with Huh-7 cells and Huh7-EGFR cells, Huh7-EGFRvIII not only exhibit significantly increase of cell growth in vitro and in vivo but also show enhanced migration in vitro. Furthermore, 5-FU has significantly lower inhibition effect on Huh7-EGFRvIII cells then on both Huh-7 and Huh7-EGFR cells in vitro and in vivo. Collectively, these results demonstrate that EGFRvIII plays a pivotal role in tumorigenicity and enhanced 5-FU resistance of HCC.