Abstract: Objective: To investigate the effects of silencing integrin-linked kinase in Tb human tongue cancer cell on the expression and phosphorylation of its downstream signal molecular Akt and GSK3β and growth and spontaneous metastasis of tumor xenografts. Methods: Target cells were constructed by transfecting specific siILK plasmid and a non-homologous vector negative control into Tb cells. Tb, Tb vector and Tb siILK cells, respectively, were injected into nude mice subcutaneously．Weight and size of the xenograft tumor in nude mice were measured．Morphology of tumor tissue was observed by routine pathology methods．Changes in the expression and phosphorylation of Akt and GSK3β and micro-blood vessels in tumor tissue were detected by immunofluorescence and laser scanning confocal detection, respectively．Results: Phosphorylation of Akt and GSK3β in vivo and vitro was obviously inhibited in Tb siILK group compared with the other groups. Compared with Tb ［(3.58±1.04) g］and Tb vector ［(3.64±0.65) g］group, the mean tumor mass in Tb siILK group ［(1.68±1.35) g］decreased 53.0% and 53.8%，respectively (P<0.05)．Microvessel formation was also reduced in Tb siILK group compared to the other groups （P<0.05）. Conclusion: Silencing ILK inhibits proliferation and microvessel formation of Tb human tongue cancer tumor xenograft, which may be related with the inhibition of phosphorylation of Akt and GSK3β. The results suggest that ILK could be a therapeutic target protein for tongue cancer.

Key words: integrin-linked kinase, micro vessel, xenograft tumor growth, human tongue squamous cancer cells