The suppression of MUC1 expression in cultured cholangiocarcinoma cells using antisense MUC1 ribozyme strategy.

ABSTRACT

Ribozyme strategy has been employed to suppress the expression of target genes with a better efficacy than that of a regular antisense RNA strategy due to its favorable stoichiometry of the hybridization. A plasmid capable of controlling the expression of a portion of antisense RNA whose sequence is complementary to the 5' region of the coding sequence of MUC1 was constructed to include the requisite sequence of a hammerhead ribozyme. This plasmid is intended to suppress MUC1 expression. This novel plasmid was examined to see whether it functioned inside the harboring cell. Cultured cholangiocarcinoma cells prepared from the sediment of intrahepatic biliary fluid were employed as the transfection target since these cells have been confirmed to have high levels of MUC1 expression. The suppression of MUC1 expression in these cells after stimulation of the plasmid function for 16 h was demonstrated using flow cytometric analysis.