Effects of siRNA-Mediated Knockdown of HDAC1 on the Biological Behavior of Esophageal Carcinoma Cell Lines

BACKGROUND HDAC1 has been shown to be closely associated with the occurrence of tumors. We aimed to investigate the effects of siRNA-mediated HDAC1 knockdown on the biological behavior of esophageal carcinoma cell lines. MATERIAL AND METHODS HDAC1 expression in esophageal cancer cell lines TE-1, Eca109, and EC9706 was compared by Western blot analysis. These cells were transfected with siRNA-HDAC1 and cell proliferation was evaluated by MTT assay to select the optimum cell line for subsequent experiments. The effects of siRNA-HDAC1 on the migration and invasion of the selected cell line were assessed by transwell assay. The expression of cell cycle-related proteins cyclinD1, p21 and p27, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related protein zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1), E-cadherin and vimentin was determined by Western blot analysis. RESULTS HDAC1 expression in TE-1, Eca109 and EC9706 cells was significantly higher compared with normal esophageal cell line HEEC (P<0.01). MTT assay, Western blot and RT-PCR analyses demonstrated that the inhibitory effects of siRNA on HDAC1 expression and cell viability in TE-1 cells were the highest among all cell lines, which was therefore used in subsequent experiments. After TE-1 cells were transfected with siRNA-HDAC1, their migration and invasion were significantly lower compared with the controls (P<0.01). CyclinD1 and vimentin expression was significantly lower compared with the controls (P<0.01), whereas the expression of p21, p27, ZO-1 and E-cadherin was significantly higher (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS The siRNA-mediated HDAC1 knockdown significantly inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of TE-1 cells probably by regulating the expression of cell cycle- and EMT-related proteins.