Expression and inhibition of MBD2 in gastric cancer

Abstract

ABSTRACT: As gastric cancer (GC) involves changes in gene expression, proteins that bind to methylated DNA, such as methyl-CpG-binding domain protein 2 (MBD2) may be a potential target for cancer treatment. We used immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence to detect the MBD2 expression in GC tissues and SGC-7901 (GC cell line), RT-PCR and western blotting to evaluate the knockdown of MBD2 by specific siRNAs, and MTT assay to analyse the proliferation of SGC-7901 after the MBD2-siRNA transfection. We found GC expression of MBD2 protein was higher than in matched non-cancerous tissues, and the MBD2 expression was associated with the size and histological grade of GC tissues. MBD2 protein was distributed in the nucleus of GC cells, and the MBD2 mRNA and protein could be inhibited by a specific siRNA. Finally, after 96 h of the MBD2-siRNA transfection, the growth rate of SGC-7901 decreased compared with controls. Hence MBD2 may be an underlying target of gastric cancer treatment