Lentivirus-Mediated siRNA Targeting ER-αInhibits Tumorigenesis and Induces Apoptosis in Hepatocarcinoma Cells

摘要

Background and Objectives. Estrogen receptor-α(ER-α) plays important roles in hepatocarcinogenesis. Recent studies have shown that ER-αcould lead to cell cycle progression or inhibition of apoptosis. To better understand the role of ER-α, RNA interference (RNAi) was used to inhibit ER-αexpression in the human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells.Methods. Lentivirus-mediated ER-αsmall interfering RNA (siRNA) was transfected into HCC cells Hep3B. ER-αexpression was monitored by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and western blot. Cell proliferation, apoptosis, and invasion were examined by methyl thiazol tetrazolium (MTT), flow cytometry (FCM), and invasion assay, respectively.Results. ER-αsiRNA efficiently downregulated the expression of ER-αin Hep3B cells at both mRNA and protein levels in a time-dependent manner. ER-αsiRNA also inhibited cell proliferation and reduced cell invasion (compared with other groups,P<0.05, resp.). Furthermore, knockdown of ER-αslowed down the cell population at S phase and increased the rate of apoptosis (P<0.05, resp.).Conclusion. ER-αknockdown suppressed the growth of HCC cells. Thus, ER-αmay play a very important role in carcinogenesis of HCC and its knockdown may offer a new potential gene therapy approach for human liver cancer in the future.