Purpose: The objective of the study was to investigate the role of NFBD1 in the proliferation and apoptosis of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) cells.
Methods: Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and qRT-PCR was employed to determine the expressions of NFBD1 protein and mRNA in LSCC tissues and adjacent noncancerous tissues. After the downregulation of NFBD1 expression, the colony formation assay, MTS assay and apoptosis assay were used to investigate the changes in the proliferation and apoptosis of Hep2 cells. The mechanisms by which silencing NFBD1 promote apoptosis of Hep2 cells were examined by western blotting. Furthermore, xenograft models were used to evaluate the proliferation of Hep2 cells in vivo.
Results: NFBD1 protein was upregulated in 55.6% of LSCC cancer tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues (26.7%). NFBD1 knockdown in Hep2 cells significantly impacted proliferation and apoptosis, and silencing NFBD1 might promote apoptosis of Hep2 cells by activating the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. Xenograft models showed that silencing NFBD1 also significantly inhibited tumor growth.
Conclusions: Our data highlight that NFBD1 participates in the regulation of proliferation and apoptosis in LSCC, and suggest that NFBD1 could be a promising therapy target.
Keywords: Apoptosis; Cell cycle; Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC); NFBD1/MDC1.