Liposome-mediated RNA interference delivery against Erk1 and Erk2 does not equally promote chemosensitivity in human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line HepG2

摘要

Abstract Background: Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk)1 and Erk2 are central mediators of mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway, which plays a key role in proliferation and chemoresistance of cancer cells. However, the effect of Erk1 and Erk2 in these processes may not be the same. The aim of this study was to investigate differential effect of Erk1 and Erk2 down-regulation on chemoresistance in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. Expression level and relative expression analysis in HepG2 cells were performed using RT-PCR and qRT-PCR, respectively. Phosphorylated-Erk1/2 and apoptosis analysis was performed by flow-cytometry (FCM) technique. Results: The results showed a higher expression level of Erk2 relative to Erk1 in HepG2 cells (P?P?P?P?P??0.01). Conclusion: Our data show that liposomal siRNA-mediated down-regulation of Erk1/2 can lead to potent chemosensitizing effects in HepG2 cells. Moreover, a higher chemosensitivity following Erk2 down-regulation than Erk1 down-regulation may be associated with the higher expression of Erk2 in human HCC.