In-vivo transfection of pcDNA3.1-IGFBP7 inhibits melanoma growth in mice through apoptosis induction and VEGF downexpression

Background. genome-wide rna interference screening study revealed that loss of expression of insulin-like growth factor binding protein 7 (igfbp7) is a critical step in development of a malignant melanoma (mm),and this secreted protein plays a central role in apoptosis of mm. in this study we constructed pcdna3.1-igfbp7 to obtain high expression of igbpf7 and to inhibit the growth of mm in c57bl/6j mice. methods. pcdna3.1-igfbp7 was transfected into b16-f10 cell,the expression of igfbp7 was detected by rt-pcr and western blot. the proliferations and apoptosis rates of transfected and control cells were measured by cck8 and fcm,respectively. the tumorigenicity and tumor growth in both pcdna3.1-igfbp7 group and control groups were studied in c57bl/6j mice model. igfbp7,caspase-3,and vegf expressions in tumor tissue were measured by immunohistochemistry. apoptosis of tumors were detected by tunel. results. we demonstrated this plasmid inhibited proliferation of b16-f10 melanoma cells efficiently in vivo,exploiting the high expression of igfbp7. more importantly,in-vivo transfection of pcdna3.1-igfbp7 inhibited mm growth in c57bl/6j mice. the inhibition of mm growth was proved owing to apoptosis and reduced expression of vegf induced by pcdna3.1-igfbp7. conclusions. these results suggest a potential new clinical strategy for mm gene treatment. © 2010 chen et al; licensee biomed central ltd.