Dynamic Nitric Oxide Monitoring for in vitro Discrimination of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cells and Organoids and Preliminary Assessment of Chemotherapy Response

doi:10.3870/j.issn.1672-0741.26.04.024

Abstract

Abstract: Objective this study investigated the feasibility of real-time nitric oxide （NO） monitoring for distinguishing between esophageal squamous cell carcinoma （ESCC） and normal esophageal epithelial cells at the cellular and organoid levels, and for preliminary assessment of chemotherapy response. Methods An electrochemical sensor was used to monitor NO release levels in the ESCC cell lines KYSE30 and KYSE150, as well as in normal esophageal epithelial cells （NE6-T）, upon L-arginine stimulation.An in vitro chemotherapy model with ESCC cells and organoids was established to assess changes in NO release after paclitaxel （PTX） treatment. Pearson correlation analysis was performed between relative viability derived from NO signals and that obtained via the CCK-8 assay. Results NO levels in ESCC cells were higher than those in normal esophageal epithelial cells （P<0.05）, and this elevation may be associated with the activation of the HIF-1α-iNOS pathway. Following PTX treatment, cell viability estimated from NO measurements showed a strong positive correlation with that determined by the CCK-8 assay （r= 0.9579, P<0.05）, and organoid viability also showed a strong positive correlation （r=0.9116, P<0.05）, indicating good consistency between the two methods. Conclusion Dynamic NO release can distinguish ESCC cells from normal esophageal epithelial cells in vitro and reflect changes in the viability of tumor cells and organoids following treatment with chemotherapeutic agents. This suggests that dynamic NO detection holds value in the in vitro discrimination of ESCC and drug sensitivity screening.

Key words: ESCC, nitric oxide, chemotherapy sensitivity, organoid, HIF-1α

CLC Number:

R735.1

Yao Kaiyuan, Gao Shegan, Zhao Anshun. Dynamic Nitric Oxide Monitoring for in vitro Discrimination of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cells and Organoids and Preliminary Assessment of Chemotherapy Response[J]. Acta Medicinae Universitatis Scientiae et Technologiae Huazhong, 2026, 55(5): 651-658.

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