SiRNA targeting EGFR effectively prevents posterior capsular opacification after cataract surgery

PURPOSE: We investigated the effect of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) siRNA on human lens epithelium (HLE) cells and the development of posterior capsular opacity (PCO). METHODS: We designed EGFR siRNA and used it to knockdown the expression of EGFR in HLE cells. Cell proliferation was examined by 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT), cell growth curve assay and cell cycle analysis. Next, we selected an adaptable concentration of recombinant epidermal growth factor (EGF) for stimulating the growth of HLE cells to further test the suppressive effect of siRNA. At last, we established the model of PCO in rats to further investigate whether knocking down EGFR would prevent the progression of PCO in vivo. RESULTS: The cell proliferation of EGFR siRNA group was apparently inhibited no matter in short or long term and cell cycle was arrested in G(1) phase. Over expression EGF cannot rescue the inhibition of EGFR siRNA on HLE cells and the proliferation activity in HLE cells greatly decreased when EGF-EGFR signal pathway blockaded. In vivo experiments, the extent of PCO of EGFR siRNA group is much lower than the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that EGFR siRNA can effectively inhibit the progression of PCO. Thus, siRNA targeting EGFR may provide a totally new way for preventing PCO or even cataract.