CONSTRUCTION OF P53 ANTISENSE RNA EXPRESS ION VECTOR AND ITS EFFECT ON COLON-CANCER CELLS

Objective To study the antitumor effect of p53 antisense RNA and provi de potential approach for p53 gene therapy. Methods A 2.1 Kb human p53 full length cDNA was inserted into a mammalian expression vector pREP 9 to make a p53 antisense RNA expression vector pREP9-p53(AS). pREP9-p 53(AS) was then introduced into human colon cancer cell line SW1116 (w ith mutated endogenous p53). MTT method and FCM analysis were pet-form ed to measure the effect of p53 antisense RNA expressed by pREP9-p53(A S) on SW1116 cell cycle progression. Results The growth rate of SW1116 cells with pREP9-p53 (AS) was significantly suppressed by the express ion of p53 antisense RNA compared to the control SW1116 cells and SW11 16 cells with pREP9 vector alone. FCM analysis showed that SW1116 cell s with pREP9-p53(AS) were arrested at G0/1 phase, whereas no significa nt influence could be observed on control SW1116 cells with pREP9. Con clusions p53 antisense RNA can reduce the growth rate of colon cell SW 1116 by stopping cell cycle at G0/1 phase, and hence is a new and prom ising approach for p53 gene therapy of colon cancer.