Inhibitory effect of survivin-siRNA on prostatic subcutaneous xenografts in nude mice

AIM: To investigate the inhibitory effect of survivin-siRNA recombinant plasmid on prostate cancer xenografts. METHODS: Prostatic cancer DU145 cells were cultured and subcutaneously injected into nude mice. When the tumor grew to 8 mm in diameter, it was aseptically removed and divided into about 2 mm blocks through surgery and subcutaneously implanted into another nude mice. After the prostatic cancer xenograft model was reconstructed, the mice were treated with survivin-siRNA plasmid and control scrambled siRNA plasmid using electric transfection method. The tumor growth curve was plotted and the inhibitory rate was calculated. HE staining, immunohistochemical staining and TUNEL assay were applied to observe the effect of survivin-siRNA on the xenografts. RESULTS: The prostatic cancer xenograft model was successfully constructed in vivo. Compared with mock and scrambled siRNA groups, transfection of survivin-siRNA recombinant plasmid obviously inhibited the tumor growth with the inhibitory rates of 61.81% and 62.87%, respectively. Compared with both controls, survivin-siRNA depressed the protein expression of survivin and promoted the cell apoptosis. CONCLUSION: Survivin-siRNA recombinant plasmid significantly inhibits the growth of prostatic tumor xenografts by inhibiting the protein expression of endogenous survivin and promoting cell apoptosis.