title: Vitronectin silencing inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma in vitro and in vivo.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore if inhibition of vitronectin can be used for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  RNAi technology was used to silence the expression of VTN in HepG2 and SMMC 7721 cells. Change of growth characteristics in these cells was evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  VTN silencing does not affect growth characteristics of cancer cells in monolayer cell culture, but could suppress the colonized growth of cells in soft agar. VTN-siRNA suppresses colony formation more than 80% compared with that of control in SMMC7721cells and leads to the inhibition of colony formation of over 70% in HepG2 cells. In addition, VTN silencing decreases the size of tumor xenografts in nude mice, particularly in male mice, with an inhibition rate of 46.6%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  VTN plays a significant role in the malignant growth of tumor. Inhibition of VTN could potentially be applied for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Toxicology, Guangzhou Center for Disease Control & Prevention, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510080, PR China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Wenxue
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Guangyu
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Chuanxi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Gaofeng
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Qiansheng
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Hu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D005260:Female; D055785:Gene Knockdown Techniques; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D056945:Hep G2 Cells; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D034622:RNA Interference; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000235:genetics; D019096:Vitronectin / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D019096:Vitronectin
keywords: colony formation; hepatocellular carcinoma; mouse xenografts; siRNA; vitronectin