title: Silencing of c-Met by RNA interference inhibits the survival, proliferation, and invasion of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells.
abstract: c-Met is a tyrosine kinase receptor that mediates pleiotropic cellular responses following its activation by hepatocyte growth factor. The overexpression of c-Met in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) has been described recently, but the functional role of c-Met in NPC remains incompletely understood. This study aimed to investigate the potential mechanism by which c-Met contributes to the tumorigenesis of NPC. In the present study, by using RNA interference we silenced the expression of c-Met in CNE-2 cells, a poorly differentiated NPC cell line. Our in vitro studies showed that shRNA-mediated depletion of c-Met resulted in the suppression of proliferation, migration, and invasion, as well as an increase in the apoptosis of CNE-2 cells. Moreover, in xenograft nude mice we demonstrated that the depletion of c-Met resulted in reduced tumor growth and increased apoptosis in xenografts. Taken together, these results suggest that c-Met plays an oncogenic role in the development of NPC and reveal it as a potential novel therapeutic target for NPC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Union Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1277 Jiefang Avenue, Wuhan, China, 430022.
authors.forename: Yuncheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Sulin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhengang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Weijia
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kong
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D015153:Blotting, Western; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002465:Cell Movement; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002470:Cell Survival; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D034622:RNA Interference; D047368:Tumor Burden; D023041:Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays
chemical_list: D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met