Effects of combined siRNA-TR and -TERT on telomerase activity and growth of bladder transitional cell cancer BIU-87 cells

  • Wen Cheng (程 文)
  • Zhifeng Wei (位志峰)
  • Jianping Gao (高建平)
  • Zhengyu Zhang (张征宇)
  • Jingping Ge (葛京平)
  • Kangzhen Jing (景抗震)
  • Feng Xu (徐 锋)
  • Peng Xie (解 鹏)
Article
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Summary

The effects of combined RNA interference (RNAi) of human telomerase RNA (hTR) and human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) genes on telomerase activity in a bladder cancer cell line (BIU-87 cells) were investigated by using gene chip technology in vitro with an attempt to evaluate the role of RNAi in the gene therapy of bladder transitional cell cancer (BTCC). Three TR-specific double-stranded small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and three TERT-specific double-stranded siRNAs were designed to target different regions of TR and TERT mRNA. The phTR-siRNA, phTERT-siRNA, and the combination of both plasmids phTR+phTERT-siRNA were transfected into BIU-87 cells. The expression of hTR and hTERT mRNA was detected by quantitative fluorescent reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, and a telomeric repeat amplification protocol was applied to detect telomerase activity. Growth inhibition of BIU-87 cells was measured by MTT assay. Gene chip analysis was performed to evaluate the effects of the combined RNAi of hTR+hTERT genes on telomerase activity and growth of BIU-87 cells in vitro. The results showed that the expression of hTERT and hTR mRNA was inhibited by pRNAT-hTERT-III, pRNAT-hTR-III, and pRNAT-hTR-III+hTERT-III in BIU-87 cells. The inhibition efficiency of pRNAT-hTERT-III, pRNAT-hTR-III, pRNAT-hTERT-III+pRNAT-hTR-III was 67% for TERT mRNA, 41% for TR mRNA, 57% for TR mRNA and 70% for TERT mRNA in BIU-87 cells respectively. The growth of BIU-87 cells was inhibited and telomerase activity was considerably decreased, especially in the cells treated with combined RNAi-hTR and -hTERT. Gene chip analysis revealed that 21 genes were down-regulated (ATM, BAX, BCL2, BCL2L1, BIRC5, CD44, CTNNB1, E2F1, JUN, MCAM, MTA1, MYC, NFKB1, NFKBIA, NME4, PNN, PNN, SERPINE1, THBS1, TNFRSF1A, and UCC1). The results indicated that hTR-siRNA and hTERT-siRNA, especially their combination, siRNA hTR+hTERT, specifically and effectively suppressed the expression of both hTR and hTERT mRNA and telomerase activity. Molecular biological mechanism by which combined siRNA-TR and -TERT inhibited telomerase activity and growth of BIU-87 cells in vitro may involve the down-regulation of the 21 genes.

Key words

human telomerase reverse transcriptase combined RNAi hTR gene hTERT gene transitional cell bladder cancer 
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Copyright information

© Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  • Wen Cheng (程 文)
    • 1
  • Zhifeng Wei (位志峰)
    • 1
  • Jianping Gao (高建平)
    • 1
  • Zhengyu Zhang (张征宇)
    • 1
  • Jingping Ge (葛京平)
    • 1
  • Kangzhen Jing (景抗震)
    • 1
  • Feng Xu (徐 锋)
    • 1
  • Peng Xie (解 鹏)
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of UrologyJinling HospitalNanjingChina

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