ABSTRACT
The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of synuclein-γ (SNCG) downregulation by RNA interference (RNAi) on the clonogenicity and invasiveness of MCF-7 breast cancer cells. This study used four pairs of SNCG-specific siRNAs which were designed and cloned into the pGPU6 plasmid for introduction into an MCF-7 cell line. The SNCG knockdown efficacies of the four siRNAs were compared using the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunocytochemistry. The cells' clonogenic and invasive phenotypes were examined with clonogenic and Boyden chamber assays. In comparison with the non-specific siRNA and empty vector controls, all four SNCG siRNAs were observed to significantly inhibit SNCG expression at the mRNA and protein levels (F=481.06, P<0.001; F=147.42, P<0.0001). SNCG suppression mediated by RNAi successfully inhibited the clonogenicity (P=0.002) and invasiveness (P<0.001) of transfected MCF-7 cells. According to the results of the present study, we concluded that SNCG suppression mediated by RNAi significantly suppressed SNCG expression at the mRNA and protein levels, suggesting that SNCG suppression mediated by an RNAi strategy may become a novel approach for treating advanced breast cancer.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To explore a new monitoring method for schistosomiasis transmission interrupted areas, so as to evaluate the monitoring results in counties (districts) to improve the quality. METHODS: Specialized technicians were selected as survey teams to investigate the status of Oncomelania hupensis snails with the random sampling method combined with environmental sampling method every year from 1997 to 2013. RESULTS: From 1997 to 2013, 118 villages of 38 townships of 21 counties were investigated for the snail status, and there were 18 environments with snails in 10 townships of 7 counties. The snail area was 10.91 hm2. CONCLUSION: There are still small snail areas. Therefore, the snail monitoring should still be strengthened by specialized technicians.
