Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) is a pleitrophic cytokine that not only regulates growth and differentiation of many cell types but also prevents apoptosis induced by various stimulations. In this study we investigated the effect of IGF-1 on Survivin expression in human esophageal carcinoma cells (CE cells). IGF-1 significantly inhibited apoptosis induced by 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu) and increased the expression of Survivin but had no effect on the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax. Over-expression of survivin using replication-deficient adenovirus increased cell survival from apoptosis induced by 5-Fu in CE cells. Adversely, using antisense-survivin to disrupt survivin expression, apoptosis induced by 5-Fu was significantly elevated and the protective effect of IGF-1 was significantly blocked. Our data indicated that IGF-1 inhibited 5-Fu induced apoptosis by increasing Survivin expression in CE cells. Furthermore, we demonstrated that IGF-1 regulated Survivin expression through PI 3-K and CK2 pathways. Our data indicated that the anti-apoptotic effect of IGF-1 was mediated by PI-3K and CK2 dependent up-regulation of Survivin in CE cells.
