Down-regulation of aquaporins (AQP3) expression by RNA interference suppresses human lung cancer cell proliferation

Abstract

Aquaporins (AQPs) represent a family of homologous water channels expressed in many epithelial and endothelial cells. Most tumors have been shown to exhibit high vascular permeability and interstitial fluid pressure. Here, we tested the regulation on the expression of AQP3 by RNA interference (RNAi) in the human lung cancer cell line (XWLC-05) and observed the changes of proliferation and adhesion ability. The results show that AQP3 mRNA transcripts were decreased to 65 and 79%, respectively (P<0.05). Western blot analyses also revealed the AQP3 protein was decreased to 53 and 73% (P<0.05). MTS assay showed that proliferation of XWLC-05 was significantly inhibited by RNAi after 48 and 72 h transfection. The invasion assay demonstrated that the number of XWLC-05 cells penetrating the membrane in the transfected group was considerably lower than those in the untransfected and negative control group (P<0.05). These results indicate that vector-based shRNA could be used as a potential tool to inhibit the expression of AQP3.

Key words: Lung cancer, RNA interference, AQP5, cell adhesion ability, invasion ability.