Survivin siRNA suppresses glioblastoma growth by inducing cell apoptosis

To explore the effect of Survivin siRNA on U251 and C6 cells proliferation and apoptosis in vitro and rat glioma in vivo. Both cells lines were transfected with plasmids. Survivin, Bcl-2, c-Myc, cyclin D1, and caspase3 expression in U251 cells were analyzed by Western blot. The cell proliferation and apoptosis were determined by MTT, flow cytometry, and AO/EB assays. C6 glioma model was constructed in rat brain stereotactically. Tumor volumes were measured in time and growth curves were plotted. We found that Survivin expression was significantly reduced in Survivin siRNA transfected cells and apoptosis was induced greatly. Survivin siRNA decreased Bcl-2, cyclin D1 and c-Myc expression levels but promoted Caspase3 expression. Compared with the controlled groups, Survivin siRNA significantly suppressed the growths of C6 glioma intracranially and increased apoptosis rates in tissue but decrease Ki67 expression. In short, this study demonstrated that Survivin siRNA effectively suppressed growth and induced apoptosis, it also inhibited rat glioma growth intracranially.