RESUMEN
AIM:To explore the effect of GATA6 gene silencing on apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma Huh-7 cells.METHODS:RNA interference vectors of the target gene GATA6 mediated by lentivirus were constructed in vitro to transfect the hepatocellular carcinoma cell line Huh-7.The apoptotic rate of transfected cells was measured by flow cytome-try.The protein expression of GATA6, NF-κB and Bcl-2 in transfected cells was determined by Western blotting.RE-SULTS:The transfection efficiency was 57.4%.The mRNA and protein expression of GATA6 reduced significantly after the carcinoma cell line Huh-7 being transfected by RNA interference vectors mediated by lentivirus.The apoptotic rate of the carcinoma cells with silent GATA6 gene was significantly increased (P<0.05).The protein expression levels of NF-κB and Bcl-2 were also significantly decreased.CONCLUSION: Lentiviral vector-mediated RNA interference of GATA6 has an inhibitory effect on the expression of the gene itself, and promotes the apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells.Regu-lation of the apoptosis-related protein expression by the NF-κB signaling to influence the proliferation and apoptosis of hepa-tocellular carcinoma cells might be one of the possible mechanisms.