Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most common cancers in China, accompanied by an extremely high mortality rate. CHA is a small-molecule compound, that has been shown to have a wide range of biological activities, including antitumor. However, the efficacy and molecular mechanism of CHA on ESCC remains unknown.

 In this study, we confirmed the inhibition of proliferation by CHA in ESCC cells, as well as the reduction of ESCC xenograft volume by CHA in vivo. In addition, CHA also suppressed both the migration and invasion of ESCC cells in vitro. In a carcinogen-induced murine model of ESCC, hyperplasia of the esophagus was slowed by CHA, while mice suffering from ESCC that were treated with CHA had longer survival times than mice in the control group. The measurement of pluripotency factors (BMI1, SOX2, OCT4 and Nanog) that are related to poor prognosis revealed reduced expression of both BMI1 and SOX2, but not of OCT4 or Nanog, in ESCC cells, in both a dose- and time-dependent manner.

Together, our initial findings demonstrate that CHA suppresses ESCC progression, downregulates the expression of BMI1 and SOX2, and provide an antitumor candidate for ESCC therapy.

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