RNAi-mediated knockdown of the CLN3 gene inhibits proliferation and promotes apoptosis in drug-resistant ovarian cancer cells

CLN3 is a recently identified anti-apoptotic gene, which has been demonstrated to be highly expressed in a diverse range of cancer cell lines, including ovarian cancer. In the present study, RNA interference, mediated by a lentivirus expressing CLN3 short hairpin RNA (shRNA) was utilized to knockdown the expression of CLN3 in the A2780 human ovarian cancer cell line, and its cisplatin-resistant and carboplatin-resistant sublines, A2780/DDP and A2780/CBP cells. It was revealed that the mRNA and protein expression levels of CLN3 were significantly reduced in the CLN3-specific shRNA-transduced cells, compared with the untransduced and control shRNA-transduced cells. In addition, specific knockdown of CLN3 in these cells inhibited cell proliferation and led to cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase, with eventual apoptosis. CLN3 knockdown caused increases in the levels of Bax, FAX, cleaved-caspase 3, cleaved-caspase 8 and cleaved-RARP, but decreased the level of Bcl-2. Finally, it was observed that CLN3 depletion markedly reduced the half maximum inhibitory concentration in the A2780/DDP and A2780/CBP cells. Taken together, these data suggested that CLN3 is involved in tumorigenesis and drug resistance in ovarian cancer, and may serve as a promising therapeutic target for its treatment.