Down-regulation of the vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) by a small interfering RNA targeting VEGF in the nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line(CNE-2Z)

Objective To investigate the inhibitory effect of a small interfering RNA targeting the vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) in the nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line(CNE-2Z) in vitro,and to explore a new approach to gene-therapy for retinal revascularization.Methods Nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells were cultured in vitro and divided into a normoxia group(20%) and a hypoxia group(5%).After VEGF siRNA was transfected into CNE-2Z by Lipofectamine 2000,VEGF expression was tested with immunohistochemical staining and ELISA.Results VEGF_(165) and VEGF_(121) proteins were expressed in the cytoplasm of CNE-2Z cells under normoxia(brown particle) and the expression increased under hypoxia.Under normoxia,the expressions of secreting VEGF_(165) shown by ELISA in the non-transfection group,the pSilencer2.1-U6 hygro transfection group and the VEGF siRNA transfection group were 419.72 pg/ml,410.61 pg/ml and 320.76 pg/ml,respectively.Under hypoxia,the expressions of secreting VEGF_(165) protein in above three groups were 805.61 pg/ml,798.81 pg/ml and 496.56 pg/ml,respectively.VEGF siRNA down-regulated the expression of VEGF_(165).Conclusion VEGF specific siRNA can effectively down-regulate the expression of VEGF protein in CNE-2Z cells in vitro,thus it may be a potential therapeutic approach in retinal vascularization.