Clusterin confers paclitaxel resistance in cervical cancer

Objective.: To measure clusterin expression in cervical cancer tissues and cell lines and to evaluate whether clusterin confers resistance to paclitaxel in cervical cancer cells. Methods.: Immunohistochemical staining for clusterin was performed on 15 normal cervical tissues and 32 primary cervical cancer tissues, and clusterin expression in cervical cancer cell lines was quantified by Western blotting. The correlation between clusterin expression level and paclitaxel IC₅₀ in cervical cancer cell lines was evaluated. The effect of clusterin siRNA on paclitaxel resistance was evaluated by XTT assays. Results.: Cervical cancer tissues expressed significantly higher levels of clusterin than did normal cervical tissues (4.08 vs. 1.35, P < 0.05). Clusterin expression levels were correlated with paclitaxel resistance in cervical cancer cell lines, and transfection of clusterin siRNA into HeLaS3 cells significantly decreased their resistance to paclitaxel (P < 0.05). Conclusion.: Our finding that clusterin expression was significantly higher in cervical cancer than in normal cervical tissues suggests that clusterin may confer paclitaxel resistance in cervical cancer cells.