Lentivirus-mediated shRNA Interference Targeting SLUG Inhibits Lung Cancer Growth and Metastasis

Objective: Lung cancer is a deadly cancer, whose kills more people worldwide than any other malignancy.SLUG (SNAI2, Snail2) is involved in the epithelial mesenchymal transition in physiological and in pathologicalcontexts and is implicated in the development and progression of lung cancer.
Methods: We constructed a lentivirusvector with SLUG shRNA (LV-shSLUG). LV-shSLUG and a control lentivirus were infected into the non-smallcell lung cancer cell A549 and real-time PCR, Western blot and IHC were applied to assess expression of theSLUG gene. Cell proliferation and migration were detected using MTT and clony formation methods.
Results:Real-time PCR, Western Blot and IHC results confirmed down-regulation of SLUG expression by its shRNAby about 80%~90% at both the mRNA and protein levels. Knockdown of SLUG significantly suppressed lungcancer cell proliferation. Furthermore, knockdown of SLUG significantly inhibited lung cancer cell invasion andmetastasis. Finally, knockdown of SLUG induced the down-regulation of Bcl-2 and up-regulation of E-cadherin.
Conclusion: These results indicate that SLUG is a newly identified gene associated with lung cancer growth andmetastasis. SLUG may serve as a new therapeutic target for the treatment of lung cancer in the future.