Abstract
γ-synuclein (SNCG) is highly expressed in bladder cancer tissues and associated with tumor recurrence. However, the functional effect of SNCG on the development of bladder cancer remains unknown. In the present study, the effects of SNCG down-regulation by RNA interference (RNAi) on the proliferation and invasiveness of human bladder cancer cell line 5637 were explored. Three pairs of SNCG-specific small interference RNA (siRNA) were designed and transfected into the 5637 cell lines, and then the SNCG expressions in the three siRNA were assessed using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reactions (RT-PCR) and Western blot, while the cell proliferation and invasiveness of the 5637 cells were evaluated using cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and transwell assays, respectively. In addition, the expressions of matrix metalloproteinase-2 and -9 (MMP-2/9) were analyzed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays after the down-regulation of SNCG. The results showed that compared with the negative and empty vector controls, all three SNCG siRNAs were observed to significantly inhibit the SNCG expressions at the mRNA and protein levels (P < 0.05), among which the lowest SNCG expression was measured in SNCG-siRNA-244. And the SNCG suppression mediated by RNAi successfully inhibited the proliferation and invasiveness of the 5637 cell lines (P < 0.05), as well as the down-regulation of MMP-2/9. In conclusion, the proliferation and invasiveness of bladder cancer cells can be decreased by specifically interfering with the SNCG expression. And SNCG siRNA deserves further study as a novel target for biomedical therapy in bladder cancer.