Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of TGF-β1 shRNA in proliferation and adhesion of human salivary gland mucoepidermoid carcinoma cell Ms in vitro. METHODS: Ms cells, Ms cells transfected with empty vectors and Ms cells transfected with TGF-β1 shRNA were cultured in vitro. Cell count assay, clone formation assay were performed to measure the proliferation of Ms cells. Adhesive abilities were assessed by cell-to-cell adhesion and cell-to-FN adhesion. Coomassie brilliant blue staining assay was used to detect the changes in cytoskeleton and immunoflurescence was used to evaluate the expression of Ezrin protein on Ms cells. RESULTS: The population doubling times of TGF-β1 shRNA-transfected cells, empty vector-transfected cells and the control cells were 30.8，28.8 and 29.0, respectively. The rates of clone formation were 14.2％, 24.5％ and 25.1％, respectively. TGF-β1 shRNA transfection increased the cell-to-cell adhesion by 18.6％ in a 30-min adhesion assay, but inhibited the cell-to-FN adhesion by 35.3％ in a 1-h adhesion assay. Compared with control and Ms transfected with empty vectors, Ms cells stably transfected with TGF-β1 shRNA grew slowly. The ability of homogeneous adhesion was increased and that of heterogeneous adhesion was inhibited. TGF-β1 shRNA changed the cytoskeleton and down-regulated the expression of Ezrin protein. CONCLUSION: TGF-β1 shRNA could affect the proliferation and adhesion, which may be associated with the changes of cytoskeleton and Ezrin protein expression.

Key words: transforming growth factor-β1 shRNA, salivary gland mucoepidermoid carcinoma, proliferation, adhesion