Downregulation of the expression of B‑cell lymphoma-extra large by RNA interference induces apoptosis and enhances the radiosensitivity of non‑small cell lung cancer cells.

Changbin Yang, Wei Huang, Ling Yan, Yu Wang, Weili Wang, Dezhi Liu, Xiaojun Zuo

Index: Mol. Med. Report. 12 , 449-55, (2015)

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Abstract

B-cell lymphoma-extra large (Bcl-xL), an important member of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family, is involved in tumor progression and development. The overexpression of Bcl-xL is associated with radioresistance of human malignancies. The present study aimed to investigate the inhibitory effect of small interfering RNA (siRNA) on the expression of Bcl-xL in the A549 non-small lung cancer (NSCLC) cell line, and its role in inducing the apoptosis and increasing the radiosensitivity of A549 cells. An siRNA expression vector, pSilencer4-CMVneo-short hairpin (sh)RNA, was constructed and stably transfected into A549 cells. The effects of Bcl-xL-shRNA on cell proliferation, apoptosis and the protein expression levels of associated proteins were assessed in vitro in the A549 cells. The radiosensitivity of the A549 cells was evaluated using a clonogenic cell survival assay. The results demonstrated that the sequence-specific siRNA targeting Bcl-xL efficiently and specifically downregulated the mRNA and protein expression levels of Bcl-xL. The RNA interference-mediated downregulation in the expression of Bcl-xL inhibited cell proliferation, induced apoptosis and reduced the radioresistance of the NSCLC cells. These findings suggested that Bcl-xL may be a promising therapeutic approach for the treatment of NSCLC.