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Human positive coactivator 4 is a potential novel therapeutic target in non-small cell lung cancer

Cancer Gene Therapy volume 19, pages 690–696 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

Transcriptional positive coactivator 4 (PC4) is a multifunctional nuclear protein that has important roles in DNA transcription, replication, repair and heterochromatinization. However, the role of PC4 in cancer remains to be clarified. Several studies propose that PC4 may act as a putative tumor suppressor. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that PC4 may represent a potential therapeutic target in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). PC4 protein expression is significantly upregulated in NSCLC carcinoma tissues compared with their adjacent noncancerous counterparts as shown by immunohistochemical staining and western blotting in 104 pairs of formalin-fixed human NSCLC specimens and 6 fresh NSCLC samples. Knockdown of PC4 expression by sequence-specific small interfering RNA (siRNA) in human NSCLC cells (A549, H460 and H358) significantly inhibits the growth of cancer cells by the induction of cell cycle arrest and the increase of cell apoptosis in vitro. Interrupting the PC4 signaling pathway by injection of the PC4 siRNA liposome complex produced an effective regression of pre-established A549 cell xenografts in mice through growth inhibition and increased apoptosis. These results indicated that PC4 could be an attractive new therapeutic target for the treatment of NSCLC.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the State Key Basic Research Development Program (2012CB518103), Natural Science Foundation Programs (30870966 and 81130026), Chongqing Municipal Natural Science Foundation Program (CSTC2009BA5043) and a program of New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET) from the Ministry of Education and intramural grants from the State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns and Combined Injury to CS.

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  1. Y Peng and J Yang: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Combined Injury, State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns and Combined Injury, Research Center of Nanomedicine, College of Preventive Medicine, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China

    Y Peng, E Zhang, H Sun, T Wang, Y Su & C Shi

  2. Institute of Pathology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China

    J Yang & Q Wang

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  1. Y Peng
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Correspondence to C Shi.

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Peng, Y., Yang, J., Zhang, E. et al. Human positive coactivator 4 is a potential novel therapeutic target in non-small cell lung cancer. Cancer Gene Ther 19, 690–696 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/cgt.2012.52

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