OBJECTIVESTo construct the expression vector pGenesil-3-shRNA that can express the short hairpin RNAs (shRNA) silencing Kir6.2 gene and to study its influence on the proliferation and invasion of HepG2 cells.

METHODSTwo shRNA silencing Kir6.2 genes were transcript synthesized intracellularly by expressed templates of plasmid vector pSilence-3, and the target sequence of Kir6.2 gene was inserted into the upstream of the reporter gene in order to construct the recombinant plasmid vector pGenesil-3. Plasmids containing 2 different sequences of human Kir6.2 mRNA coding region were constructed and transfected into HepG2 cells by using lipofectamine 2000 methods. The experiment was divided into 4 groups: SK (normal), SK-HK (negative control), SK-K1 (transfected with the interfering sequence 1) and SK-K2 (transfected with the interfering sequence 2) groups. A selected single clone was cultured after screening by G418. The expression of Kir6.2 protein was detected by Western blot. MTT assay and Transwell system were used to observe the proliferation and invasion of HepG2 cells.

RESULTSThe recombinant expression plasmid pGenesil-3 was successfully constructed and underexpression of Kir6.2 gene in HepG2 cells was detected by Western blot. Underexpression of Kir6.2 gene significantly decreased the proliferation and invasion of the HepG2 cells.

CONCLUSIONshRNA can inhibit the expression of Kir6.2 gene in the HepG2 cells, and underexpression of Kir6.2 gene decreased the proliferation and invasion of the HepG2 cells.