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Inhibition of telomerase RNA (hTR) in cervical cancer by adenovirus-delivered siRNA

Cancer Gene Therapy volume 14, pages 748–755 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Small interfering RNA (siRNA) has become a powerful tool for selectively silencing gene expression in cultured mammalian cells. In this study, a 67-bp oligonucleotide encoding human telomerase RNA (hTR) was introduced into pSIREN, a shuttle vector for construction of recombinant adenovirus. Then the U6-RNA promoter and siRNA-encoding insert were cut out from the pSIREN and subcloned into pAdeno-X to construct the plasmid pAd-hTR. After the pAd-hTR was transfected into a mammalian cell line HEK-293, adenovirus carrying the hTR-targeting siRNA (Ad-hTR-siRNA) was obtained. We performed a series of experiments to demonstrate silencing of the telomerase mediated by Ad-hTR-siRNA in HeLa cells. Compared with control virus (Ad-NT-siRNA), Ad-hTR-siRNA significantly reduced both hTR mRNA level (by 70.21%) and telomerase activity (by 58.87%) in HeLa cells. Moreover, it induced apoptosis in HeLa cells. Treatment of subcutaneous tumor xenografted with Ad-hTR-siRNA could slow down tumor growth, at least partially due to the induction of apoptosis (P<0.05) in vivo. Taken together, our results demonstrated efficient and specific knockdown of telomerase in HeLa cell line by the hTR siRNA, and indicated the prospect of applying this siRNA expressing recombinant adenovirus system in cancer gene therapy.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr De Yang and Zhigui Ma for supporting our work in part, and Professor Qi Wu for technical assistance of adenovirus package. We also thank Dr Bo Li for insightful comments and discussions. This work was supported by the Educational Ministry of China, the Department of Science and Technology, Sichuan Province and CMB of Sichuan University (Chengdu, China).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, West China School of Preclinical and Forensic Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

    Y Li, H Li, W Li, F Wang, Z Jiang & M Li

  2. Institute of Chengdu Biological Products, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

    G Yao

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Correspondence to M Li.

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Li, Y., Li, H., Yao, G. et al. Inhibition of telomerase RNA (hTR) in cervical cancer by adenovirus-delivered siRNA. Cancer Gene Ther 14, 748–755 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.cgt.7701056

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