Effects of siRNA-mediated HIF-1α gene silencing on angiogenesis in osteosarcoma

Objective: to explore angiogenesis in osteosarcoma under the condition of hypoxia-inducible factor (hif)-1α gene silenced by small interference rna (sirna). methods: the saos-2 osteosarcoma cells,transfected with the recombinant plasmid psilencer2.1-hif-1α or psilencer2.1-scr,were classified as hif-1α/sirna group or scr/sirna group,respectively. in which,vascular endothelial growth factor (vegf) immunohistochemistry were performed. hif-1α and vegf protein contents were detected by western blot. gene expressions of hif-1α and vegf were quantified by qpcr. then the transfected saos-2 cells were inoculated in nude mice and transplantation tumor were checked via he staining,vegf and cd34 immunohistochemistry,and calculation of microvascular density (mvd). results: in vitro,vegf immunohistochemistry stains,hif-1α and vegf protein contents,and the relative expressions of hif-1α mrna and vegf mrna in hif-1α/sirna group were obviously reduced. in vivo,morphological observation illustrated that heteromorphism were not obvious in the cells of hif-1α/sirna group and vascular systems were sparse in its transplantation tumor tissue,and immunohistochemistry revealed that both vegf and cd34 stains were significantly decreased in hif-1α/sirna group,and mvd in hif-1α/sirna group (7.3±1.1) were obviously less than that in scr/sirna group (17.2±3.2) (p<0.05). conclusion: angiogenesis in osteosarcoma can be inhibited by sirna-mediated hif-1α gene silencing,which is expected to provide a novel and attractive target of therapeutic strategies of osteosarcoma. © 2017,professional medical publications. all rights reserved.