Down-Regulation of Survivin Expression by siRNA Suppresses Proliferation and Enhances Chemosensitivity in Human Pancreatic Cancer Cell Line Panc-1

To explore effects of the siRNA of the survivin enhanced tumor sensitivity to chemotherapeutic drugs in human pancreatic cancer cells. A siRNA expression plasmid against the survivin gene were designed, transferred into human pancreatic carcinoma cell line Panc-1 and effected on the cell cycle. After 48 hours transfected, the expression of the survivin gene was inhibited significantly, and arrested the cell cycle in G1 phase, inhibited cell proliferation significantly, and promoted cell apoptosis. The growth of Panc-1 cells was decreased by 62.6% when the Panc-1 cell was transfected with siRNA after 48 hours, in comparison to the control group. Panc-1 cells presented an increase in apoptosis index and in cisplatin sensitivity. Our present results show that Small interfering RNA can exert a knockdown of the survivin gene expression in Panc-1 cells and effectively induce apoptosis and inhibit the growth and increase the chemotherapeutic drug sensitivity of human pancreatic cancer cell line Panc-1.