ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effect of lysine methyltransferase SET8 on regulating cell transdifferentiation of rat vascular smooth muscle cells(VSMCs)into osteoblast-like cells. Methods VSMCs were obtained from rat thoracic aorta,and then randomly divided into control group(non-transfection),the empty plasmid group(transfect NS-shRNA)and SET8-shRNA group. The expression of SET8, runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2) was detected by RT-PCR and Western blot assay. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was measured by enzyme linked immunoassay. Results The expression of SET8 in VSMCs was effectively inhibited by SET8-shRNA.RT-PCR and Western blot results showed that the expression of RUNX2 was decreased in cells after SET8-shRNA transfection (P<0.05). ALP activity was significantly reduced after SET8-shRNA transfection(P<0.05).Conclusion Interference with SET8 gene expression could inhibit the differentiation of VSMCs into osteo-like cells.