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Silencing of the HCCR2 Gene Induces Apoptosis and Suppresses the Aggressive Phenotype of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells in Culture

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery

Abstract

Background

The human cervical cancer oncogene HCCR-2 is overexpressed in various malignant tumors and cell lines, and might function as a negative regulator of the p53 tumor suppressor. Here, we used RNA interference strategies to evaluate the role of HCCR-2 in liver cancer, and to explore its potential therapeutic effect.

Methods

Changes of HepG2 cells stably transfected by an HCCR-2 RNA interference vector were detected by real-time PCR, MTT staining, plate colony formation, flow cytometry, and cell migration experiments. Apoptosis-related protein Bcl-2 and Bax levels were measured by Western blot.

Results

Our results showed that of the three siRNA-expressing vectors, siRNA-H3 had a suppressive effect on the expression of HCCR-2 mRNA, interfering with proliferation and migration of HCCR-2. Moreover, the apoptotic rate also increased, and cells transfected by siRNA-H3 were blocked in the G0/G1 stage. Plate colony formation experiments demonstrated that the single cell clone formation capacity of HepG2-H3 cells was clearly lower than that of HepG2 and HepG2-N cells. Western blot results indicated that the expression of Bcl-2 was inhibited, and the expression of Bax was increased.

Conclusions

In summary, RNAi targeting HCCR-2 could be an effective means for suppressing malignant features of hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Su Yongyue (Institute of Burn Research, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, People's Republic of China) for generously providing the vector pGenesil-1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gastroenterology, Southwest Hospital, The Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 400038, China

    Jun Guo, Liuqin Yang, Yafei Zhang, Jun Wang, Shunmei Wan, Shihai Xia, Shiming Yang, Rongquan Wang & Dianchun Fang

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  1. Jun Guo
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  2. Liuqin Yang
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  3. Yafei Zhang
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  4. Jun Wang
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  5. Shunmei Wan
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  7. Shiming Yang
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  9. Dianchun Fang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dianchun Fang.

Additional information

Jun Guo and Liuqin Yang contributed equally to this work.

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Guo, J., Yang, L., Zhang, Y. et al. Silencing of the HCCR2 Gene Induces Apoptosis and Suppresses the Aggressive Phenotype of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells in Culture. J Gastrointest Surg 15, 1807–1813 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11605-011-1633-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11605-011-1633-4

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