Aim: To further analyse cancer involvement of basic transcription factor 3 (BTF3) after detection of its upregulation in gastric tumor samples.
Methods: BTF3 transcription rates in human gastric tumor tissue samples (n = 20) and adjacent normal tissue (n = 18) specimens as well as in the gastric cancer cell lines AGS, SGC-7901, MKN-28, MKN-45 and MGC803 were analyzed via quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. The effect of stable BTF3 silencing via infection with a small interfering RNA (siRNA)-BTF3 expressing lentivirus on SGC-7901 cells was measured via Western blotting analysis, proliferation assays, cell cycle and apoptosis profiling by flow cytometry as well as colony forming assays with a Cellomic Assay System.
Results: A significant higher expression of BTF3 mRNA was detected in tumors compared to normal gastric tissues (P < 0.01), especially in section tissues from female patients compared to male patients, and all tested gastric cancer cell lines expressed high levels of BTF3. From days 1 to 5, the relative proliferation rates of stable BTF3-siRNA transfected SGC7901 cells were 82%, 70%, 57%, 49% and 44% compared to the control, while the percentage of cells arrested in the G1 phase was significantly decreased (P = 0.000) and the percentages of cells in the S (P = 0.031) and G2/M (P = 0.027) phases were significantly increased. In addition, the colony forming tendency was significantly decreased (P = 0.014) and the apoptosis rate increased from 5.73% to 8.59% (P = 0.014) after BTF3 was silenced in SGC7901 cells.
Conclusion: BTF3 expression is associated with enhanced cell proliferation, reduced cell cycle regulation and apoptosis and its silencing decreased colony forming and proliferation of gastric cancer cells.
Keywords: Apoptosis; Basic transcription factor 3; Cell cycle; Gastric cancer; Proliferation; Small interfering RNA.