As-miR-222 transfection target PUMA to induce cell apoptosis in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Objective To investigate the effect of overexpression of p53 upregulated modulator of apoptosis (PUMA) gene induced by As-miR-222 transfection on apoptosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma(OSCC). Methods Tca8113 was treated with As-miR-222 and As-miR-222 NC respectively , the experiment was randomly divided into 3 groups : blank group, As-miR-222 transfection group and As-miR-222 NC transfection group. After the recombinants were transfected into Tca8113 with Lipofectamine TM MAX, the expression of PUMA on mRNA and protein level was analyzed by RT-PCR and Western blot, respectively. The proliferation of Tca8113 cells was detected by MTT assay. Cell cycle and apoptosis were detected by flow cytometry. Results Compared with blank group and As-miR-222 NC transfection group, miR-222 expression was down-regulated obviously (P 0.01) meanwhile the expression of PUMA at both mRNA level and protein level was up-regulated as validated by RT-PCR and Western blot (P 0.05). MTT assay indicated that cell proliferation was inhibited by As-miR-222 transfection. Cell apoptosis ability was significantly increased after treatment with As-miR-222 . Conclusion As-miR-222 transfection could up-regulate the expression of PUMA to induce apoptosis in human oral squamous cell carcinoma.