Aspirin enhances the therapeutic efficacy of cisplatin in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma by inhibition of putative cancer stem cells

Background Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are related to the patient’s prognosis, recurrence and therapy resistance in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Although increasing evidence suggests that aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid, ASA) could lower the incidence and improve the prognosis of ESCC, the mechanism(s) remains to be fully understood. Methods We investigated the role of ASA in chemotherapy/chemoprevention in human ESCC cell lines and an N-nitrosomethylbenzylamine-induced rat ESCC carcinogenesis model. The effects of combined treatment with ASA/cisplatin on ESCC cell lines were examined in vitro and in vivo. Sphere-forming cells enriched with putative CSCs (pCSCs) were used to investigate the effect of ASA in CSCs. Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin with high-throughput sequencing (ATAC-seq) was performed to determine the alterations in chromatin accessibility caused by ASA in ESCC cells. Results ASA inhibits the CSC properties and enhances cisplatin treatment in human ESCC cells. ATAC-seq indicates that ASA treatment results in remarkable epigenetic alterations on chromatin in ESCC cells, especially their pCSCs, through the modification of histone acetylation levels. The epigenetic changes activate Bim expression and promote cell death in CSCs of ESCC. Furthermore, ASA prevents the carcinogenesis of NMBzA-induced ESCC in the rat model. Conclusions ASA could be a potential chemotherapeutic adjuvant and chemopreventive drug for ESCC treatment.