The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of special AT-rich sequence-binding protein-1 (SATB1)-targeted small interfering RNA (siRNA) on the proliferation, invasion and apoptosis of TE-1 human esophageal cancer cells. SATB1 has been correlated with the metastasis and poor prognosis of colon and breast cancer, but the role of SATB1 in esophageal cancer remains unknown. Therefore, the present study constructed and transfected SATB1-siRNA into TE-1 cells in order to knockdown the expression of the SATB1 gene. Western blot analysis, a cell counting kit, transwell chamber assays and flow cytometry were used to assess the effect of SATB1-siRNA on the proliferation, invasion and apoptosis of cells. The results demonstrated that the expression of the SATB1 gene was efficiently knocked down by SATB1-siRNA, and that SATB1-siRNA inhibited the proliferation, invasion and apoptosis of TE-1 cells. Therefore, it was concluded that the SATB1 gene is important in the pathogenesis of human esophageal cancer, and may present a novel therapeutic target for esophageal cancer.
Keywords: TE-1; esophageal cancer; small interfering RNA; special AT-rich sequence-binding protein-1 gene.