Effects of interference of AKT by siRNA on the proliferation and apoptosis of ovarian carcinoma SKOV3 cells

OBJECTIVE: To silence the key gene AKT of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in ovarian cancer cell line SKOV3 by using small interfering RNA (siRNA), and explore its effects on the proliferation and apoptosis. METHODS: Human ovarian carcinoma SKOV3 cells in vitro were randomly divided into the control group, the empty vector group and the RNA interference group. In the RNA interference group, the SKOV3 ovarian cancer cells were transfected by AKT siRNA mediated by liposome. The expression of AKT mRNA was detected by fluorescence quantitative PCR before and after the AKT siRNA. The PI3K, AKT and PCNA proteins were evaluated by immunofluorescence staining assay in each group. The proliferation of the ovarian cancer cell apoptosis was evaluated by MTT method. Flow cytometry Annexin V/PI assay was used to detect the changes of apoptosis rate in each group. RESULTS: The expression of AKT mRNA in the RNA interference group was significantly inhibited and lower than that of the control group and the empty vector group (q=58.96, P<0.001). The results of immunofluorescence staining showed that the fluorescence intensity of the AKT and PCNA protein in the RNA interference group was lower than that of the control group and the empty vector group (P=0.637) and there was no significant difference in the fluorescence intensity of PI3K protein in the three groups. The flow cytometry Annexin V/PI assay showed that the apoptosis rate of RNA interference group was (79.52±2.31)%, which was significantly higher than that of the control (27.35±2.01)% and empty vector groups (28.64±1.96)% and was about 3 times the empty vector and the control group, and there existed significant difference between the siRNA group and the control group and vector group (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: AKT siRNA could inference the expression of AKT gene, thus inhibited ovarian cancer cell line SKOV3 proliferation and promoted the apoptosis of ovarian cancer cells, which might be a new treatment method for ovarian cancer.