Up-regulation of Rb by small activating RNA inhibits cell invasion and migration in gastric cancer cells

Abstract

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is a lethal disease that needs further investigation. Recent studies have reported that small activating RNA (saRNA), involved in a process called RNA activation, plays an important role in the development of cancer. Methods: The expression of retinoblastoma (Rb) was detected in human GC tissues and cell lines. We designed three different saRNAs targeting the Rb gene promoter in GC cell lines. Upregulated Rb expression after transfection of the saRNAs was confirmed by PCR and western blotting. And GC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were detected using CCK8 assays and Transwell assays. Results: Here, we found that Rb displayed lower expression in GC tissues and cells. saRNA-3 significantly increased the expression of Rb in both SGC-7901 and MKN-28 cells. saRNA-3 significantly inhibited the proliferation of both cell types by day 3 after transfection. There was no significant difference between the negative control saRNA and mock transfection groups. saRNA-3 decreased the tumor volume and weight compared with the mock and dsControl groups. In addition, saRNA-3 transfection decreased the migratory ability of SGC-701 and MKN-28 cells.Conclusions: Overall, Rb is a promising novel prognostic biomarker of GC and, due to its role in metastasis, a novel therapeutic target for the clinical management of invasive and metastatic GC.