Inhibition of Proliferation, Migration, and Invasion by Knockdown of Pyruvate Kinase-M2 (PKM2) in Ovarian Cancer SKOV3 and OVCAR3 Cells

Abstract

Pyruvate kinase (PK) is a key enzyme in the process of glycolysis, catalyzing phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) into pyruvate. Currently, PK isozyme type M2 (PKM2), one subtype of PK, has been proposed as a new tumor marker with high expression in various tumor tissues. Here we aimed to explore the effects of siRNA-PKM2 on ovarian carcinoma (OC) cell lines SKOV3 and OVCAR3, in which PKM2 was notably expressed. PKM2 gene interference lentivirus vectors were built by miRNA transfection assay. siRNA-PKM2-transfected SKOV3 and OVCAR3 cells were evaluated for cell proliferation, cell cycle distribution, cell apoptosis, cell migration, and invasion in this study. In addition, the expression levels of several tumor-related genes were measured using real-time PCR and Western blot. Results showed that siRNA-PKM2 markedly inhibited cell proliferation, induced apoptosis, and caused cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase. Cell migration and invasion were significantly suppressed by siRNA-PKM2. Furthermore, the tumor-related genes caspase 7, Bad, and E-cadherin were upregulated, while MMP2, HIF1α, VEGF, and MMP9 were depressed by siRNA-PKM2. The function of siRNA-PKM2 on the biological behavior of OC cells indicated that PKM2 may also be a target for treatment of OC.