Abstract: Objective To explore the effect and mechanism of Gli2 on EMT and invasion in the hepatocellular carcinoma cell line SMMC-7721. Methods shRNA of Gli2 and Negative control (NC) shRNA were constructed and transfected into SMMC-7721 cells. shRNA-Gli2 group,shRNA-NC group and blank group were set up.Transwell chambers assay、adhesion experiments were used to detect the ability of invasion、homogeneous and heterogeneous cells intercellular adhesion of each group. Meanwhile,the qRT-PCR、Western blot were used to examine Gli2、E-cadherin、N-cadherin and Vimentin mRNA and protein expression. Results In different hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines and be along with the increasing ability of the invasion in hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines, Gli2 expression was higher. Compared with the shRNA-NC group and blank control group,the interfered group extensive cells invasion ability was weaken (P <0.05), homogeneous cells intercellular adhesion was increased and heterogeneous cells intercellular was opposite(P<0.05),meanwhile,the expression of E-cadherin was declined significantly (P<0.05),the expression of N-cadherin、Vimentin raised significantly(P<0.05). Conclusion Silencing Gli2 gene can reverse the EMT of the hepatocellular carcinoma cell line SMMC-7721 and inhibit cell invasion,its mechanism may be related to the up-regulation of E-cadherin and the down-regulation of N-cadherin、Vimentin.

Key words: Gli2 Epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT) SMMC-7721 cell invasion Adhesion