Inhibitory effect of antisense vascular endothelial growth factor 165 eukaryotic expression vector on proliferation of hepatocellular carcinoma cells

摘要

AIM:To construct antisense VEGF165 eukaryotic expression vector PCDNA3-as-VEGF165 and to study its expression and effect on the proliferation of hepatocarcinoma SMMC-7721 cells.METHODS: VEGF165 cDNA was inserted into polylinker sites of eukaryotic expression vector PCDNA3 to construct PCDNA3-as-VEGF165.Then the vector was transferred into human hepatocarcinoma cell strain SMMC-7721 with cation lipofectamine 2000 mediated methods to evaluate the expression of VEGF protein and the inhibitory effect on the proliferation of hepatocarcinoma SMMC-7721 cells.RESULTS:The detection indicated the presence of VEGF cDNA in normally cultured SMMC-7721 cells by PCR.VEGF mRNA expression was notably decreased in SMMC-7721 cells by RT-PCR after PCDNA3-as-VEGF165 transfection. The expression of VEGF protein was dramatically inhibited (142.01±7.95 vs 1625.52±64.46 pg·ml^-1, P<0.01) 2 days after transfection,which correlated with the dose of PCDNA3-as-VEGF165 gene.VEGF protein was most expressed in PCDNA3 transferred SMMC-7721 cells but few in PCDNA3-as-VEGF165 transferred cells by immunohistochemical staining. The apoptotic rate of hepatocarcinoma SMMC-7721 cells was significantly promoted (17.98±0.86% vs 4.86±0.27%, P<0.01) and the survival rate was notably decreased (80.99±3.20% vs 93.52±3.93%, P<0.05) due to antisense VEGF165 by flow cytometry (FCM). The transfection of antisense VEGF165 gene resulted in the inhibitory effect on the proliferation of hepatocarcinoma cells by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and the death of all hepatocarcinoma cells on day 6 after transfection.CONCLUSION:It is confirmed that antisense VEGF165 can inhibit the expression of VEGF protein, interfere with the proliferation and induce the apoptosis of hepatocarcinoma cells in our study. Antisense VEGF165 gene therapy may play an important role in the treatment of human hepatocarcinoma.