Effects of PTEN gene silencing on invasion and EMT in oral squamous carcinoma Tca8113 cells.

AIM: To investigate the impact of silencing of the PTEN gene using siRNA on the invasion, proliferation, cell cycle, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of the Tca8113 cell line. METHODS: The established Tca8113 cell model with siRNA interference to silence the PTEN gene was used. The transfection efficiency was examined by RT-qPCR and Western blot analysis. CCK-8 assay was utilized to analyze the proliferation of Tca8113 cells and cell invasion was evaluated using a transwell assay. The cell cycle distribution was analyzed by flow cytometry. The protein expression levels of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers E-cadherin and Vimentin and the EMT-related proteins ß-catenin and TGF-ß1 were analyzed by Western blot. RESULTS: The expression level of PTEN was significantly reduced in the PTEN-siRNA group. The invasiveness and proliferation rate of Tca8113 cells in the PTEN-siRNA group were significantly greater than those of the control and negative control groups. The expression levels of E-cadherin and ß-catenin were reduced, whereas the expression levels of vimentin and TGFß-1 were elevated in the PTEN-siRNA group compared with those of control and negative groups. These results were significantly different. CONCLUSION: The silencing of PTEN by siRNA increased the proliferation and promoted cell invasion of Tca8113 cells. PTEN gene silencing may accelerate the EMT in Tca8113 cells.