Knockdown by shRNA identifies SLC44A5as a potential therapeutic target in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been ranked the second leading cause of cancer‑associated mortality in China and the third leading cause of cancer‑associated mortality worldwide. A number of previous studies investigating SLC44A5have revealed important biological insight and disease‑specific functions. Therefore, the present study investigated the expression of SLC44A5in HCC tissues and cell lines, and assessed the effect of SLC44A5on the viability, cell cycle, apoptosis and invasion of HCC cell lines. The mRNA expression of SLC44A5in35HCC tissues was significantly higher compared with that in35normal tissues. The protein expression of SLC44A5was notably high in MHCC‑97H and SMMC‑7721cells compared with that in four other HCC cell lines. Knockdown of SLC44A5using short hairpin RNA inhibited cell viability and arrested the cells in G1of the cell cycle by reducing the expression of cell cycle markers, proliferating cell nuclear antigen and cyclin‑dependent kinase2 in MHCC‑97H and SMMC‑7721 cells. Furthermore, SLC44A5knockdown cells also exhibited cell apoptosis by reducing the expression levels of apoptosis markers, caspase‑3and caspase‑9in MHCC‑97H and SMMC‑7721cells, and suppressed invasion. The present results suggested that SLC44A5is involved in HCC carcinogenesis and progression in HCC, indicating that SLC44A5may be a molecular target in cancer therapy.