Abstract
Background
Tripartite motif containing 44 (TRIM44) is an atypical member of the TRIM protein family that has been reported to be aberrantly overexpressed in multiple human cancers, including cervical cancer. Nonetheless, the potential role of TRIM44 in cervical cancer development has not yet been determined.
Objective
In this study, we used an RNA interference approach to knockdown endogenous TRIM44 expression in human cervical cancer HeLa and SiHa cells, and stable cells with TRIM44 knockdown were obtained.
Result
TRIM44 knockdown significantly inhibited cell growth, invasion and migration, whereas induced spontaneous apoptosis in HeLa and SiHa cells. Cells with stable TRIM44 knockdown exhibited reduced levels of Cyclin D1, Bcl-2, c-Myc and β-Catenin, but elevated levels of cleaved Caspase-3 and Bax in comparison to those transfected with a control vector. In vivo, nude mice injected with stable TRIM44 knockdown HeLa or SiHa cells showed reduced tumor growth than that in control cells.
Conclusion
Taken together, TRIM44 is involved in tumorigenesis of cervical cancer and may represent a novel molecular target for cervical cancer prevention and therapy.
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RL, and CY designed the research and wrote the manuscript. RL, YM, WG, CS, and LZ performed the experiments and data analysis. HM and YZ performed critical revision of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Rui Liu declares that he has no conflict of interest. Yanan Ma declares that he has no conflict of interest. Wenli Gu declares that she has no conflict of interest. Canxu Song declares that she has no conflict of interest. Lina Zhou declares that she has no conflict of interest. Huanran Meng declares that she has no conflict of interest. Yuan Zhang declares that he has no conflict of interest. Caihong Yang declares that he has no conflict of interest.
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The animal study protocols were reviewed and approved by the General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University (No. KY036).
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Liu, R., Ma, Y., Gu, W. et al. RNA interference-mediated knockdown of tripartite motif containing 44 suppresses cervical cancer growth in vitro and in vivo. Mol. Cell. Toxicol. (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13273-021-00218-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13273-021-00218-6