Specific Inhibition Of WT1 Gene Expression And Cell Proliferation By RNA Interference In Leukemic Cells

Background and Objectives.RNA interference (RNAi),or gene silenceing, is a technique for down-regulating the expression of a specific gene in living cells by introducing a double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) with homology to the gene of interest. It has been demonstrated that 21 basepair (bp) RNA molecules (small interfering RNA or siRNA) can be a potent mediator of the RNAi effect in mammalian cells. RNAi has since become widely used to suppress the function of specific genes. It has proved to be a valuable tool for genome-wide studies ,a treatment for viral dieases , tumors or other genetic diease. In the study of leukemia, the researchers has use anti-BCR-ABL siRNA to suppress the gene expression and induce cell apoptosis.The Wilms' tumor gene (WT1) ,which was presumed as a tumour suppressor gene,is aberrantly over-expressed in leukemic cells. A high expression of Wilms' tumor gene (WT1) in leukemia seems to correlate with a poor outcome. WT1 antisense inhibited the growth of WT1-expressing cells and induced apoptosis. WT1 plays a significant role in differentiation and leukemogenesis.Therefore, our study focused on the effects of small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting WT1 in reducing the target gene expression in K562 cell lines( human erythroid blast crisis of CML) and affecting cell growth.Design and Methods.In our study, chemically synthesized anti-WT1 siRNAs were ordered for inhibiting WT1 gene and cell proliferation in K562 cells. Cells were routinely maintained in RPMI-1640 medium supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum (FCS) without antibiotics in a humidified...