Effects of PRMT5 on Cell Proliferation and Apoptosis in Hepatocellar Carcinoma Cells

Abstract: The paper aimed at investigating the effects of PRMT5 on cell proliferation and apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma cells. PRMT5 short hairpin RNA (shRNA) sequence was designed and inserted into pLKO.1-TRC vector， then packaging lentivirus to infect SMMC-7721 and BEL-7402 cells. Stable infected cells were obtained by puromycin screening. shRNA silencing efficiency was tested by Western blot and qPCR. Cell proliferation activity was detected by CCK-8. Colony formation ability was detected by plate colony assay. Apoptosis was observed by flow cytometry. The expressions of cell proliferation- and apoptosis-related protein were detected by Western blot. The specific shRNA against PRMT5 plasmid (sh-PRMT5) was successfully constructed and infected into SMMC-7721 and BEL-7402 cells. The results of Western blot and qPCR demonstrated that the expression of PRMT5 was efficiently inhibited at both protein and mRNA levels (P<0.05). It revealed that PRMT5 depletion decreased cell proliferation (P<0.05). It was found that knockdown of PRMT5 reduced the protein levels of cyclin B1， cyclin D1， cdc20 and cdc25B， respectively (P<0.05). It showed that knockdown of PRMT5 inhibited cell colony formation ability. It was found that knockdown of PRMT5 induced the apoptosis (P<0.05). It indicated that knockdown of PRMT5 activated Caspase-3 and reduced the ratio of Bcl-2 to Bax in protein levels (P<0.05). Taken together， downregulation of PRMT5 inhibited cell proliferation and induced the apoptosis of hepatocellar carcinoma cells. It may provide a new therapeutic target for the clinical treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma

CSTR: 32200.14.cjcb.2015.12.0006