TfR associated with cervical cancer with or without neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Abstract

The objectives of this study was to examine the role of transferrin receptor (TfR) in the treatment of cervical cancer. Demographic and cancer-specific data were collected prospectively. Cancerous and adjacent mucosa tissues with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) or surgery alone were collected. TfR mRNA and protein expression was measured by Quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) and immunoblots. We measured the cell viability by the MTT (3- [4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay with or without TfR-siRNA transfection. All 42 patients aged 49.31 ± 6.30 years with locally advanced cervical cancer were included: NACT (n = 22), surgery alone (n = 20). Quantitative results showed that the levels of TfR mRNA & protein in cancerous tissues were higher than those in adjacent mucosal tissues. We also demonstrated that the levels of TfR mRNA and protein were lower in tumor tissues collected from patients with NACT than in those collected from patients without NACT. We also observed that silencing of the TfR gene suppressed the survival of HeLa cells (48 h, p < 0.05). Our findings suggest a potential value for TfR as a diagnosis or evaluation marker for cervical cancer. The present study suggests that si-TfR may have an antitumou effect against cervical cancer cells, probably by limiting cell proliferation and reducing the TfR mRNA and protein levels.