OBJECTIVETo investigate the changes in expression profiles of angiomotin (Amot), schlafen5 (Slfn5), metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF), which are genes associated with angiogenesis, tumor growth and invasion, after gene silencing of pleiotrophin (PTN) in human small cell lung cancer H446 cells.

METHODSPTN expression in H446 cells was determined by RT-PCR and Western blot. After constructing a lentiviral vector interfering PTN expression, it was packaged into virus in 293T cells. Then the virus was used to infect human small cell lung cancer H446 cells. The expressions of Amot, Slfn5, MMP-9 and VEGF were detected by RT-PCR in normal non-interference group, negative control group, PTN-interference group and group combining PTN interference and chemotherapy.

RESULTSThe results of RT-PCR and Western blot test showed that PTN expression in H446 cells was high. The interference efficiency of constructed ShRNA sequences (GCAGCTGTGGATACTGCTGAA) targeting PTN was as high as 72.1% and 59.2% at the mRNA and protein levels, respectively, in H446 cells. Compared with the negative control group, the expressions of Slfn5 and MMP-9 in H446 cells were increased by 165.1% and 47.3%, while the ones of Amot and VEGF were down-regulated by 33.1% and 26.6%, respectively, after gene silencing of PTN. The changes of gene expression profile became more evident when chemotherapy was superimposed on PTN interference.

CONCLUSIONGene silencing of PTN using siRNA lentiviral expressing vector can influence the expression of proliferation and metastasis-related genes in human small cell lung cancer H446 cells.