Effect of cytokine-induced apoptosis inhibitor 1 on liver cancer cell apoptosis

CIAPIN1 is recently recognized as a key player in a variety of prevalent cancers. In this study, we sought to explore the correlation of CIAPIN1 expression with cell apoptosis in liver cancer cell line. SI CIAPIN1 was transfected into HepG2 and Huh7 cell line to interfere the expression of CIAPIN1. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed to determine the expression level of CIAPIN1 at mRNA, and Western blot were performed to test the apoptosis protein level. SI CIAPIN1 successfully down-regulate the expression level of CIAPIN1 in HepG2 and Huh7 at mRNA level. Moreover, the apoptosis rate of HepG2 and Huh7 cells in SI CIAPIN1 transfected group notably increased compared with control group. Besides, the western blot results shown that the transfection of siCIAPIN1 in HepG2 and Huh7 could interfere with the expression of BCL-2 and BAX. Our study found that suppression of CIAPIN1 expression could increase cell apoptosis in liver cancer cells. All these findings suggest that CIAPIN1 may be involved in progression of liver cancer and could be a new therapeutic target for this disease.