The Effect Of Silencing Hexokinase Ⅱ With ShRNA On Proliferation, Apoptosis And Sensitivity To Chemotherapeutics In SGC7901 Cells

Background:Malignant tumor cells are different from normal cells in glucose metabolism that the malignant cells obtain energy mainly by anaerobic glycolysis even in the case of oxygen exist. In the early 80's, scholars had recognized that the expression of HK-II increased significantly in gastric cancer. It was used for the differential diagnosis between the benign and malignant gastric tumor. However, there is no research about the relationship between the expression of HK-II and the proliferation, apoptosis, and sensitivity to chemotherapeutics in malignant gastric cells.Objective:To observe the changes of the proliferation, apoptosis and sensitivity to chemotherapeutics in gastric cancer cell line SGC7901 after silencing HK-II gene expression by shRNA, and to assess the application prospects of silencing the HK-II gene in gastric cancer preliminarily.Methods:After silencing the expression of HK-II by shRNA in gastric cancer cell line SGC7901 and gastric epithelial cell line GES-1 cell, we detected the changes of the expression of HK-II mRNA by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and observed the changes of the proliferation, apoptosis and sensitivity to chemotherapeutics of cells by MTT method or flow cytometry, and assessed the effect of the proliferation, apoptosis and sensitivity to chemotherapeutics in SGC7901 and GES-1 cells after silencing HK-II gene expression by shRNA.Results:The expression of HK-II in gastric cancer cell line SGC7901 cells was more significantly than in gastric epithelial cell GES-1 cells. The expression of HK-II could be silenced by HK-II shRNA.Silencing the expression of HK-II could inhibit the proliferation, and promote the apoptosis of SGC7901 cells significantly, but had no effect on gastric epithelial cells. Silencing the expression of HK-II could increase the sensitivity to chemotherapeutics in SGC7901 cells, but not in gastric epithelial cells.Conclusions:Silencing the expression of HK-II could inhibit the proliferation, promote apoptosis, and increase sensitivity to chemotherapeutics in SGC7901 cells significantly, but not in gastric epithelial cells. HK-II may become a target for the treatment of gastric cancer.