Effects of short interfering RNA-mediated gene silencing of SKA1 on proliferation of hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the common causes of cancer resulting in death in China. Here, we found that spindle- and kinetochore-associated complex subunit 1 (SKA1) is a critical factor that plays an essential role in the regulation of HCC cell proliferation and apoptosis.

Methods: Using immunohistochemistry in 38 HCC tissues, we showed that the expression of SKA1 was upregulated in HCC tissues compared with the normal tissues. Then, we investigated the effects of SKA1-targeted small interfering RNA (siRNA) on the HCC cell proliferation and apoptosis as of HCC cells. SKA1-targeted siRNA was delivered to HCC SMMC-7721 and Bel-7404 cells to evaluate its antiproliferation effects using lentivirus.

Results: The lentivirus-mediated siRNA-targeting SKA1 treatment leads to a significant (p < 0.01) downregulation of SKA1 expression at mitochondrial RNA (mRNA) level. Knockdown of SKA1 inhibited HCC cell proliferation by inducing cell cycle arrest in the G0/G1 phase. Furthermore, lentivirus-mediated siRNA efficiently inhibited cell proliferation and colony formation while promoting the apoptosis.

Conclusions: Of note, our data suggest that SKA1 might play an important role in the proliferation of HCC cells, and the absence of this gene in HCC may open promising therapeutic approaches for HCC.