OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of arsenic trioxide on multiple myeloma (MM) cell gene expression and explore the molecular mechanism of arsenic trioxide therapy for MM.

METHODSU266 cells were divided into two groups, group A as control group and group B as test group. Cells were cultured for 48 hours, and total RNA and mRNA were extracted. Suppression subtractive hybridization (SSHs) was performed to distinguish the differentially expressed genes. The products were cloned into pGEM-T Easy Vector, and transfected into the competent host JM109 to construct two subtractive libraries. Positive colonies were selected by blue-white screening, and the plasmids were extracted. Homologous comparison was conducted in GenBank.

RESULTSFive downregulated clones were isolated in the first SSH: (1) Aminopeptidase N, (2) Homosapiens tumor translationally-controlled protein 1, (3) Human ATP synthetase A chain, (4) Signal recognition particle A10, (5) Mitochondrial ATP synthetase/ATPase subunit 6. Four upregulated clones were isolated in the second SSH: (1) Calcium-binding protein A10, (2) Keratin 6A, (3) 45 kD MIP repetitive element containing splicing factor and (4) poly(A)-binding protein.

CONCLUSIONSArsenic trioxide exerts proliferation inhibition and apoptosis induction on MM cells by regulating genes expression.