RESUMO
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To construct glypican-3 (GPC3)-green fluorescent protein eukaryotic expression vector pEGFP-c3-GPC3, and analyze the effect of GPC3 on the proliferation of human hepatoma cell line MHCC-97L.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The eukaryotic expression vector pEGFP-c3-GPC3 was constructed with recombinant DNA technique and transfected into MHCC-97L cells via Lipofectamine 2000. The cells stably expressing GPC3 were screened by flow cytometry and G418. The mRNA expression of GPC3 was detected by RT-QPCR method, and the protein expression by Western blotting and fluorescence microscope. The effect of GPC3 gene on the growth of the cells was examined by MTT assay.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Restriction endonuclease analysis and DNA sequencing verified correct construction of the recombinant plasmid. The green fluorescence was detected in the transfected MHCC-97L cells under fluorescence microscope. RT-QPCR and Western blotting both confirmed successful expression of GPC3 in MHCC-97L cells. The growth curve showed a significant acceleration of the proliferation of the transfected MHCC97-Lsol;GPC3 cells as compared with MHCC97-L and MHCC97-L/C3 cells (P<0.001).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>We have successfully constructed the eukaryotic expression vector pEGFR-c3-GPC3, which allows stable GPC3 expression in MHCC97-L/GPC3 cells. The upregulation of GPC3 expression can stimulate the growth of hepatoma cell line MHCC97-L in vitro.</p>