Effects and its mechanism of flap endonuclease 1 siRNA on biological characteristics of gastric cancer cells

Objective To investigate the effect and mechanism of flap endonuclease 1(FEN1) siRNA on biological characteristics of gastric cancer cells. Methods Cultured of gastric cancer cell line SGC7901, FEN1 siRNA and siRNA control were assigned as interference group and NC group; the gastric cancer cell SGC7901 without treatment was used as the control group. The transfection effects of FEN1 siRNA were detected by Real-time quantitative PCR and Western blot. Cell scratch assay was used to detect the migration ability of SGC7901 in gastric cancer cells, the invasion ability of gastric cancer cells was detected by Transwell, the relative expression levels of MMP-2, MMP-9 and β-catenin in gastric cancer cells were detected by Western blot. Results The levels of FEN1 mRNA and protein in the disturbed group were significantly lower than those in the control group and NC group, the differences were statistically significant (all P values 0.05). The cell migration ability, invasion ability and the relative expression levels of MMP-2, MMP-9 and β-catenin proteins in the interference group were significantly lower than those in the control group and NC group, the differences were statistically significant (all P values 0.05). Conclusions Transfection of FEN1 siRNA could inhibit the expression of FEN1 in gastric cancer cells, it can inhibit the migration and invasion ability of gastric cancer cells, the mechanism of action may be related to the inhibition of the expression levels of MMP-2, MMP-9 and β-catenin protein. Key words: Stomach neoplasms; Cell migration; Neoplasm invasiveness; flap endonuclease 1