Inhibition of c-REL using siRNA increased apoptosis and decreased proliferation in pre-B ALL blasts: Therapeutic implications

The c-Rel transcription factor is a unique member of the NF-kB family that has a role in apoptosis, proliferation and cell survival. Overexpression of c-Rel is detected in many human B cell tumors, including B-cell leukemia and several cancers. The study aimed to investigate the effects of c-Rel siRNA on the proliferation and apoptosis of relapsed pre-B acute leukemia cells. The c-Rel siRNA was transfected into Leukemia cells using an Amaxa cell line Nucleofector kit L (Lonza). Quantitative real-time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) and western blot were done to measure the expression levels of mRNA and protein, respectively. The flow cytometry was used to analyze the effect of c-Rel siRNA on the apoptosis and proliferation of Leukemia cells. Observed c-Rel expression in the 5 preB Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients were higher than the normal cells. The c-Rel siRNA transfection significantly blocked the expression of c-Rel mRNA in a time-dependent manner, leading to a strong growth inhibition and enhanced apoptosis (P < 0.05). Our results demonstrated that c-Rel plays a fundamental role in the survival. Therefore, c-Rel can be considered as an attractive target for gene therapy in ALL patients. Also siRNA-mediated silencing of this gene may be a novel strategy in ALL treatment.