Purpose: To investigate the effects and molecular mechanism of downregulated histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2) expression on cell proliferation and cell cycle in cervical cancer Hela cells.
Methods: HDAC2 small interfering (si)RNA and control siRNA were transfected into cervical cancer Hela cells. A cell proliferation assay using a cell counting kit-8 was applied to analyze the change in cell proliferation before and after transfection. Flow cytometry was used to detect the change in cell cycle distribution before and after transfection. Finally, Western blot was used to detect changes in the expression of cell proliferation and cell cycle-related proteins.
Results: HDAC2 siRNA significantly downregulated the expression of HDAC2 proteins in cervical cancer cells, markedly inhibiting their proliferation. In addition, the percentage of Hela cells in the G0/G1 phase in the HDAC2 siRNA group was 63.3±2.0%, significantly higher than those in the untreated group (29.3±1.7%) or the control siRNA group (29.4±1.7%) (F=354.181, p=0.000). Furthermore, Western blot analyses demonstrated that downregulated HDAC2 expression inhibited the expression of cyclin D1, cyclin E, and cdk2 proteins but elevated the expression of p21 protein.
Conclusion: The proliferation inhibition and cell cycle arrest mediated by downregulated HDAC2 expression may be tightly associated with the decrease of cyclin D1, cyclin E, and cdk2 proteins expression and the increase in p21 protein expression.