Effect of B7-H4 gene transfection on growth of ovarian cancer cells

AIM: To observe the effect of B7-H4 gene transfection on human ovarian cancer cell growth and its tumor formation. METHODS: Human ovarian cancer cell line SKOV3 was transfected with PEGFP-N1/B7-H4 and PEGFP-N1 by LipofectamineTM2000 method. The expression of B7-H4 gene was detected by RT-PCR. The high expression cell strain was selected. The growth curve was drawn by MTT methods. The tumor size was observed after SKOV3/B7-H4 cells, SKOV3/neo cells and SKOV3 cells were injected subcutaneously into SCID mouse. RESULTS: The expressions of B7-H4 mRNA and fusion protein in SKOV3/B7-H4 cells were positive. Compared with the other two groups, transfection significantly promoted cell proliferation in vitro. In addition, facilitated tumor formation and enhanced tumor growth were observed in SKOV3/B7-H4 group. No difference in tumor growth between SKOV3 group and SKOV3/N1 group was observed. CONCLUSION: B7-H4 may be a candidate gene for gene therapy of ovarian cancer.