Inhibition of CD147 gene expression via RNA interference reduces tumor cell invasion, tumorigenicity and increases chemosensitivity to paclitaxel in HO-8910pm cells

Overexpression of extracellular matrix metalloproteinase inducer (EMMPRIN or CD147), a member of the immunoglobulin family and a glycoprotein enriched on the surface of tumor cells, promotes invasion, metastasis, growth and survival of malignant cells, and confers resistance to some chemotherapeutic drugs. Here, we used a human U6 promoter-driven DNA template approach to induce short hairpin RNA (shRNA)-triggered RNA interference (RNAi) to block CD147 gene expression in the human ovarian cancer cell line HO-8910pm. Knockdown of CD147 by shRNA resulted in decrease of the HO-8910pm invasion activity in vitro and tumorigenicity in nude mice. The suppression of CD147 expression also sensitized cells to be more sensitive to paclitaxel. These results suggested that CD147 was an ovarian cancer-related gene and CD147 might be a potential target for therapeutic anti-cancer drugs.