Abstract: Objective To investigate the effect of Nestin gene silencing on the proliferation of human esophageal cancer ECA109 cells and possible mechanism. Methods Lenti-Nestin was constructed and transfected into ECA109 cells to establish a stable Nestin-silencing cell line Lenti-Nestin. Blank group, scrambled group, Lenti-Nestin group were set up. The expressions of Nestin, c-myc and cyclinD1 mRNA and protein levels were detected by qRT-PCR and Western blot. The cell proliferation was analyzed by CCK8 assay. Results The stable Nestin-silencing cell line was successfully established. The expression of Nestin mRNA (P<0.01) and protein (P<0.05) levels were reduced significantly and the downregulation evidently suppressed cell proliferation (P<0.01) and colony forming capacity (P<0.05) compare with the scrambled group and blank group. However，The c-myc and cyclinD1 expression levels in ECA109 cells in Lenti-Nestin group were significantly lower than that of scrambled group and blank group (P<0.05). Conclusion Knockdown Nestin expression significantly inhibits the level of esophageal cancer ECA109 cells proliferation，which may act via influencing the expression of c-myc, cyclinD1．

Key words: Nestin, esophageal, proliferation, gene silencing