Effects of siRNAs in combination with Gleevec on K-562 cell proliferation and Bcr-Abl expression

RNA interference (RNAi) is the repression of gene expression through a cellular mechanism of transcript-specific mRNA degradation. RNAi has been observed in human cells and applied to the modulation of a variety of human transcripts. Our goals were to deliver small interfering RNA (siRNA) using a liposome-based method, and to show Bcr-Abl siRNA specificity against K-562 cells, alone or in combination with Gleevec. Both synthetic (syn) siRNA, consisting of homogeneous 21-nucleotide-long RNA duplexes specific for the Bcr-Abl fusion site, and recombinant (r)-generated Bcr-Abl siRNA were employed. siRNA was transfected into K-562 cells with greater than 90% efficiency using RNAiFect™, as judged by fluorescence analysis. The Bcr-Abl transcript was inhibited using either siRNA preparation as measured by RT-PCR or real-time PCR. The IC50 of Gleevec in the K-562 subline F1 was lowered over 3-fold from 0.2 to 0.06 μM in cells transfected with either syn or rBcr-Abl siRNA. No effect was observed in cells after transfection with an irrelevant control siRNA. Therefore, K-562 cells transfected with RNAifect deliver Bcr-Abl siRNA efficiently and the Bcr-Abl siRNA decreased the IC50 of Gleevec required to inhibit the high levels of Bcr-Abl protein found in K-562 cells.