Effect of small interfering RNA targeting CXCR4 on breast cancer angiogenesis

Objective To study the effects of a small interfering RNA targeting CXCR-4 (shRNA-CXCR4) on angiogenesis of human breast cancer cells. Methods The expression of CXCR4 mRNA and protein in 3 breast cancer cell lines with CXCR-4 silencing mediated by shRNA-CXCR4 was detected by RT-PCR and Western blotting,respectively. The morphological changes of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were observed in co-culture with human breast cancer cells after CXCR4 gene silencing. Results CXCR4 mRNA and protein expressions decreased significantly in MCF-7,MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-435s breast cancer cells after the gene silencing (P0.05). Gene silencing with shRNA-CXCR4 in human breast cancer cells significantly inhibited the ability of HUVECs to form tubular structures in the co-culture (P0.05). Conclusion Gene silencing by shRNA-CXCR4 can obviously lower the angiogenesis-inducing ability of human breast cancer cells.