Metastasis gene expression analyses of choriocarcinoma and the effect of silencing metastasis-associated genes on metastatic ability of choriocarcinoma cells

Objective: Obtaining choriocarcinoma metastasis-associated genes and identifying the role and mechanism of VEGF-B in the progression of human choriocarcinoma. Study design: (1) cDNA microarray technique was used to compare the transcriptional profiles between highly metastatic JEG-3 cells and lowly metastatic JAR cells; (2) An inhibitory effect of VEGF-B shRNA was demonstrated by RT-PCR; (3) The effect of VEGF-B shRNA on invasion of JEG-3 cells in vitro was detected by Matrigel invasion assay. Results: (1) In upregulated genes, 51 genes were correlated with the cell metastasis ability, and FN, MMP-2, uPA, CAV-1 and VEGF-B were the first five genes; (2) Afterwards transfected VEGF-B shRNA, VEGF-B mRNA expression decreased obviously; (3) VEGF-B shRNA transfection significantly downregulated invasion level of JEG-3 cells in vitro (p < 0.05). Conclusion: VEGF-B plays an important role in the metastatic capability of human choriocarcinoma. Reducing the expression of VEGF-B can help weaken the invasion ability of human choriocarcinoma.

cDNA microarray; RNAi; VEGF-B; Choriocarcinoma; Invasion; Metastasis

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