Silencing of Nucleostemin by siRNA Induces Apoptosis in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-468 Cell Lines

One of the most important modulators involved in controlling apoptosis induction and viability of cancerous cells is nucleostemin (NS). Some studies revealed that NS is also needed to maintain the proliferation of embryonic neural stem cells and early embryogenesis. This study was designed to better elucidate the association between NS depletion status and apoptosis induction of both MCF-7 and MDA-MB-468 cell lines. We examined the effects of NS-targeting siRNAs on the expression of NS in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-468 human breast cancer cell lines by the Real-time polymerase chain reaction method. In addition, we investigated the correlation between knockdown of NS and viability rates and apoptosis induction in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-468 cell lines using the MTT assay and annexin V/PI staining, respectively. The NS-targeting siRNAs inhibited the viability of the cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner and induced apoptosis after 48 h in the cells. Thus, consistent with previous articles, this protein can be one of the regulators related to the inhibition of apoptosis and the increased viability of tumor-initiating cells in human breast cancer cell lines as well as other cancers.