Lentivirus-mediated RNAi knockdown of insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor inhibits growth, reduces invasion, and enhances radiosensitivity in human osteosarcoma cells

The type 1 insulin-like growth factor receptor (IGF-1R) is essential for tumorigenicity, tumor proliferation, and protection from apoptosis. IGF-1R overexpression has been found in many human cancers including osteosarcoma. To explore its possibility as a therapeutic target for the treatment of osteosarcoma, lentivirus-mediated siRNA was employed to downregulate endogenous IGF-1R expression to study the function of IGF-1R in tumorigenesis and radioresistance of osteosarcoma cells. The IGF-1R expression was persistently and markedly reduced by lentivirus-mediated RNAi. Downregulation of IGF-1R expression in osteosarcoma cells significantly suppressed their growth rates in vitro and reduced the potential of tumorigenicity in vivo. Moreover, the specific downregulation arrested cells in G(0)/G(1) phase of cell cycle and also induced apoptosis which correlated with the activation of Caspase-3. Furthermore, we also observed that suppression of IGF-1R could reduce the invasiveness of osteosarcoma cells and enhance their radiosensitivity. Our study suggested that lentivirus-mediated RNAi silencing targeting IGF-1R could induce potent antitumor activity and radiosensitizing activity in human osteosarcomas.