The Effects of Msi2 Knock down on Expression Levels of Musashi2-Numb Pathway and Genes Involved in the Proliferation and Apoptosis of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Cells

The expression of Numb as a cell-fate determinant gene leads to inhibition of leukemic cell growth. The high levels of Musashi2 (Msi2) results in down-regulation of Numb in chronic myeloid leukemia cells. In this study we knocked down Msi2 using RNA interference (RNAi) strategy and investigated the effects of this knock down on the expression of Musashi2-Numb axis and genes involved in proliferation and apoptosis.
In this experimental study, synthetic double stranded siRNAs designed to target human Msi2 were transfected to K562 cells using Lipofectamine in duplicate. Changes in the expression levels of Msi-2, Numb, P21, and Bcl-2 genes 48h after transfection were evaluated by real-time PCR. Induction of apoptosis in transfected leukemic cells was determined using Annexin-PI staining and flowcytometry analysis. Data were analyzed by t-test.
We found that upon Msi2 suppression, the expression levels of the cell-fate determinant Numb showed two-fold increase in K562 cells (p It seems that Msi2 could be an option for targeting leukemic cells and its down-regulation through RNAi strategy may lead to induction of apoptosis in leukemic cells. This approach may open up new opportunities for leukemia therapy.