Influences of over-expression of VEGF-C and its inhibition on biological characteristics of NCI-H446 human small-cell lung cancer cells / 肿瘤

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the influences of vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) on cell proliferation, invasion and apoptosis of NCI-H446 human small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) cells in vitro . Methods: The plasmids for VEGF-C overexpression (pHRi-VEGF-C) and small RNA interference targeting VEGF -C (pHRi-siVEGF-C) were constructed. Then the NCI-H446 cells were infected with the lentiviral packaging plasmids pHRi (an empty vector), pHRi-VEGF-C and pHRi-siVEGF-C, respectively. The expression of VEGF-C was examined by Western blotting; the cell proliferation was detected by MTT method; the invasive ability was detected by Transwell assay; and the apoptosis rate was determined by flow cytometry (FCM). Results: The expression level of VEGF-C protein in the NCI-H446 cells was significantly increased after lentiviral packaging plasmid pHRi-VEGF-C infection while it was significantly decreased after lentiviral packaging plasmid pHRi-siVEGF-C infection. The cell proliferation was significantly increased after the NCI-H446 cells were infected with pHRi-VEGF-C for five days as compared with that of the NCI-H446 cells infected with pHRi-siVEGF-C or pHRi (1.481±0.056, 0.838±0.035 and 1.146±0.07; P < 0.05). The average number of invasive cells in each visual field was significantly reduced in the pHRi-siVEGF-C-infected NCI-H446 cells as compared with that of the pHRi-VEGF-Cor pHRi-infected NCI-H446 cells (39.78±0.77, 84.87±1.27 and 60.82±1.05; P < 0.01). The number of apoptotic cells was also reduced by 90% in the pHRi-VEGF-C-infected NCI-H446 cells as compared with that of the pHRi-infected NCI-H446 cells (P < 0.01). Conclusion: The overexpression of VEGF-C can obviously promote the proliferative and invasive abilities of NCI-H446 cells, and it also can reduce the apoptosis. Meanwhile, these effects can be inhibited by small RNA interference targeting VEGF -C . The results suggest that VEGF -C may become a target of gene treatment for small-cell lung cancer. Copyright © 2012 by TUMOR.