Integrin-linked Kinase Functions as a Tumor Promoter in Bladder Transitional Cell Carcinoma

The aim of this study was to elucidate the role of the integrin-linked kinase (ILK) gene in development ofhuman bladder transitional cell carcinoma (BTCC). Expression of ILK protein and ILK mRNA in 56 cases ofhuman BTCC tissue and in 30 cases of adjacent normal bladder tissue was detected by immunohistochemistryS-P and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), respectively. Four specific miRNA RNAivectors targeting human ILK were synthesized and transfected into BIU-87 cells by liposome to obtain stableexpression cell strains. The influence of ILK on proliferation of BTCC was detected by MTT, FCM on athymicmouse tumorigenesis. The positive rate of ILK protein in BTCC tissue (53.6%) was much higher than adjacentnormal bladder tissue (10.0%) (p<0.05). Similarly, expression of ILK mRNA in BTCC tissue (0.540±0.083)was significantly higher than in adjacent normal bladder tissue (0.492±0.070) (p<0.05). MTT showed that theproliferation ability of miRNA–ILK transfected group was clearly decreased (p<0.05), the cell cycle beingarrested in G0/G1-S, an tumorigenesis in vivo was also significantly reduced (p<0.05). ILK gene transcriptionand protein expression may be involved in the development of BTCC, so that ILK might be the new marker forearly diagnosis and the new target for gene treatment.