title: β-catenin knockdown inhibits the proliferation of human glioma cellsin vitroandin vivo.
abstract: β-catenin is a crucial oncogene that is capable of regulating cancer progression. The aim of the present study was to clarify whether β-catenin was associated with the proliferation and progress of glioma. In order to knockdown the expression of β-catenin in human U251 glioma cells, three pairs of small interfering (si)RNA were designed and synthesized and the most effective siRNA was selected and used for silencing the endogenous β-catenin, which was detected by western blot analysis and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Proliferation was subsequently detected using a methylthiazolyl-tetrazolium bromide assay and the results demonstrated that knockdown of β-catenin significantly inhibited the proliferation of U251 cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner (P<0.01). Cell apoptosis rate was analyzed using flow cytometry and Annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate/propidium iodide staining demonstrated that β-catenin siRNA significantly increased the apoptosis of U251 cells (P<0.01). Furthermore, the results of anin vitroscratch assay demonstrated that β-catenin silencing suppressed the proliferation of U251 cells, as compared with the control group (P<0.01).In vivo, β-catenin expression levels in U251 cells were significantly inhibited (P<0.01) following β-catenin short hairpin (sh)RNA lentiviral-vector transfection, as detected by western blot analysis and RT-qPCR. Tumorigenicity experiments demonstrated that β-catenin inhibition significantly increased the survival rate of nude mice. The results of the present study demonstrated that knockdown of β-catenin expression significantly inhibited the progression of human glioma cancer cells,in vitroandin vivo; thus suggesting that β-catenin silencing may be a novel therapy for the treatment of human glioma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430060, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430060, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Qianxue
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
keywords: glioma cancer; interference; proliferation; β-catenin