Gene expression profiling of taxol-resistant nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells with siRNA-mediated FOLR1 downregulation.

OBJECTIVES: Our previous study has shown that downregulation of FOLR1 by siRNA partially reversed taxol-resistant phenotype in taxol-resistant nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell lines. We aim to gain further insight into the molecular mechanisms of this process and identify the differentially expressed genes after FOLR1 downregulation. METHOD: The global gene expression profile was identified and analyzed using the Affymetrix HG-U133 Plus 2.0 array. RESULTS: There was a significant dysregulation in the global gene expression of the FOLR1-suppressed taxol-resistant nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell lines. There were 41 upregulated genes and 109 downregulated genes. QRT-PCR validation of the selected differentially expressed genes demonstrated there was a good correlation with the microarray analysis. There was a significant deregulation of expression in the apoptosis-related genes such as BIRC3, PRKX, TNFRSF10A and involved in Viral carcinogenesis, MAPK signaling pathways after FOLR1 was downregulated. CONCLUSION: The suppression of FOLR1 by RNA interference altered gene expression profile of taxol-resistant nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell lines. The apoptosis-related genes and the gene alterations in viral carcinogenesis, MAPK signaling pathways might be important in FOLR1 siRNA-induced taxol-resistant reversal.