Study on the Effect of ER-alpha 36 siRNA on the Growth of ER Negative Breast Cancer Cells

Objective: To investigate the effect of ER-α36 siRNA on the growth of ER-breast cancer cell. Methods: The inhibitive effects of ER-α36 siRNA with various concentration on ER negative breast cancer cell at 24 h and 48 h were determined with MTT, the changes in DNA quantity was detected by Annexin V-FITC/PI staining, the expression levels of ER-α36 and pro-caspase-3 by Western blot. Results: ER-α36 siRNA could inhibited the growth of ER-breast cancer cells lines in vitro. The apoptosis rates at early phase treated with ER-α36 siRNA were 15.5%. The expression of ER-α36 decreased significantly after ER-α36 siRNA treatment. Conclusions: ER-α36 siRNA could induced the apoptosis in ER-α36 dependent manner and had specificity to induce apoptosis of ER negative breast cancer cells.