Laryngeal
carcinoma is a common
malignant neoplasm occurring in the head and neck, threatening human health.
Protein casein kinase 2-alpha (CK2α) has been indicated to participate in the pathogenesis of this
cancer; however, the underlying mechanisms still need to be elucidated. In this study,
short hairpin RNA (
shRNA)-mediated RNA interference (RNAi) technology was utilized to inhibit the CK2α expression in HEp-2 laryngeal
carcinoma cells. Results showed that both
mRNA and
protein expression levels of endogenous CK2α were markedly decreased in HEp-2 cells transfected with CK2α specific
shRNA. Transwell assays revealed that stable knockdown of CK2α significantly inhibited the migration and invasion of HEp-2 cells. As compared with cells treated with negative control
shRNA,
epithelial cadherin (
E-cadherin) expression was increased, but snail, slug and
vimentin were decreased in cells transfected with CK2α
shRNA, indicating that inhibition of CK2α expression may suppress the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process of laryngeal
carcinoma in vitro. Moreover, suppression of CK2α was found to enhance the apoptosis induced by
cisplatin in laryngeal
carcinoma cells, probably through inhibition of permeability
glycoprotein (
P-glycoprotein) and multidrug-resistance
protein (
MRP1). In conclusion, our study may provide a promising therapeutic strategy for human laryngeal
carcinoma by targeting CK2α.