Silencing of c-myc expression in tumor cells by siRNA

Abstract

Suppression of c-myc protooncogene expression in KB-3-1 cells by siRNA was investigated. The siRNA duplex targeted to the exon 3 of c-myc mRNA was prepared by in vitro transcription with T7 RNA polymerase on short dsDNA-templates. It was found that incubation of KB-3-1 cells in the presence of 75 nM siRNA results in decrease of the c-myc mRNA level down to 5% of the level in the control cells and significant decline of KB-3-1 cell proliferation rate. Using 200 nM siRNA four-fold decrease of KB-3-1 cells proliferation rate was observed and this effect was stable at least 96 h after transfection.