Radioactive ¹²⁵I seed inhibits the cell growth, migration, and invasion of nasopharyngeal carcinoma by triggering DNA damage and inactivating VEGF-A/ERK signaling.

Although radiotherapy technology has progressed rapidly in the past decade, the inefficiency of radiation and cancer cell resistance mean that the 5-year survival rate of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is low. Radioactive (125)I seed implantation has received increasing attention as a clinical treatment for cancers. Vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) is one of the most important members of the VEGF family and plays an important role in cell migration through the extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway. Here we show that radioactive (125)I seeds more effectively inhibit NPC cell growth through DNA damage and subsequent induction of apoptosis, compared with X-ray irradiation. Moreover, cell migration was effectively inhibited by (125)I seed irradiation through VEGF-A/ERK inactivation. VEGF-A pretreatment significantly blocked (125)I seed irradiation-induced inhibition of cell migration by recovering the levels of phosphorylated ERK (p-ERK) protein. Interestingly, in vivo study results confirmed that (125)I seed irradiation was more effective in inhibiting tumor growth than X-ray irradiation. Taken together, these results suggest that radioactive (125)I seeds exert novel anticancer activity by triggering DNA damage and inactivating VEGF-A/ERK signaling. Our finding provides evidence for the efficacy of (125)I seeds for treating NPC patients, especially those with local recurrence.