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Radioresistance remains a major problem in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treatment. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of NPC radioresistance remain poorly understood. The present study aimed to investigate the potential role and mechanism of miR-206 in NPC radioresistance. We observed that miR-206 was down-regulated in radioresistant NPC cells. Furthermore, restoration of miR-206 in CNE2-IR cells suppressed enhanced radiosensitivity of NPC cells. In contrast, inhibition of miR-206 in CNE2 cells reduced the radiosensitivity. We also found that miR-206 directly targeted IGF1 and inhibited the PI3K/AKT pathway. Our data demonstrate that miR-206 sensitizes NPC cell to irradiation by targeting IGF1, highlighting the therapeutic potential of miR-206 in NPC radiosensitization.

Aluminium (Al) toxicity and phosphorus (P) deficiency are considered to be the main constraints for crop production in acid soils, which are widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions. Conventionally, P addition is regarded as capable of alleviating Al toxicity in plants. However, this field is still rife with unsubstantiated theories, especially for different plant species growing on acid soils. In this review, the responses of plants to different methods of Al-P treatments are briefly summarized, and possible reasons are proposed by considering recent results from our laboratory. It is shown that: (1) long-term Al-P alternate treatment is advantageous for studying Al-P interactions in plants; (2) under the long-term Al-P alternate treatment, the roles of P in Al phytotoxicity might be associated with the Al resistance capability and P use efficiency of the plant, and a P/Al molar ratio exceeding 5 in roots may be the threshold of P alleviating Al toxicity based on the calculation of the tested plants; (3) in acid soils, P application may be effective only after Al stress is overcome for Al-sensitive species. Thus it is concluded that P application does not always alleviate Al toxicity under long-term Al-P alternate treatment.