Abstract: Objective To investigate the effect of the exogenous fragile hisdidine triad (FHIT) gene on the proliferation and the apoptosis of cutaneous carcinoma cell line A431, and to search for the mechanism of tumor suppression by the FHIT gene. Methods By the method of liposome transfection, plasmids pcDNA3-FHIT and pcDNA3-vector were transfected into the cutaneous carcinoma cell line A431 which was absent of FHIT gene expression, and then the transfected cells were screened by G418 and the expression of FHIT was determined by the immunocytochemical staining technique. The effect of FHIT on the growth characteristics of cutaneous carcinoma cell line A431 was observed by MTT, the colony forming test and flow cytometry. Results Stable FHIT gene expressing A431 cells were produced,and the proliferation activity and the colony forming capability of A431-FHIT were suppressed, whereas the apoptosis rate of it was increased. All these differences between A431-FHIT cells and the two control groups of cutaneous carcinoma cells had statistical significance. Conclusions Transfecting the exogenous FHIT gene into cutaneous carcinoma cells line A431can suppress the proliferation of tumor cells,and can also induce apoptosis and cell cycle arrest .

Key words: Anti-oncogene, Fragile histidine triad (FHIT) gene, cutaneous tumor, Gene transfection, apoptosis