Influence of protein kinase Cε on biological behavior of hepatic cancer SK-Hep-1 cells / 中国病理生理杂志

ABSTRACT

AIM:To investigate the inhibitory effect of small interfering RNA ( siRNA) on the expression of protein kinase Cε( PKCε) in human hepatoma SK-Hep-1 cells, and the biological behaviors of the transduced cells , inclu-ding proliferation and invasion , were investigated.METHODS:The cultured SK-Hep-1 cells were divided into 3 groups, including PKCε-siRNA group , negative control ( NC)-siRNA group and control group .MTT assay was used to analyze the proliferation of the SK-Hep-1 cells in the respective groups , while invasion potency was determined by Transwell assay .The protein levels of functional biomarkers such as Ki 67 and matrix metalloproteinase 9 ( MMP-9 ) were measured by Western blotting .The Luciferase reporter gene assay was used to explore the activity of the NF-κB pathway .RESULTS:PKCεex-pression in SK-Hep-1 cells transfected with PKCε-siRNA was significantly down-regulated at both mRNA and protein levels compared with that in the normal SK-Hep-1 cells (P<0.01), with the decreases in the protein levels of Ki67 and MMP-9. The invasion and proliferation of SK-Hep-1 cells were obviously inhibited in PKCε-siRNA group compared with control group (P<0.01).Furthermore, the transcriptional activity of NF-κB was down-regulated when PKCε was effectively in-hibited by PKCε-siRNA (P<0.01).CONCLUSION:Down-regulation of PKCεinhibits the proliferation and invasion of hepatic carcinoma cells , which might be mediated via the NF-κB signaling pathway .