Ribosomal protein S13 affects colon cancer cells proliferation, viability and migration

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is considered one of the major causes of cancer patients’ death. Studies have shown that the ribosomal protein S13 (RPS13) is overexpressed in various cancer types including CRC. However, no reports have been done to prove if it is the cause or a consequence of such cancer. The aim of our study is to elucidate the behavior of Caco-2 colon cancer cells including proliferation, viability and migration upon RPS13 knockdown. First, siRNA interference technique was used in order to downregulate RPS13 gene expression in Caco-2 cells. Western Blot analysis was done to confirm the efficiency of the knockdown. We studied the effect of downregulating RPS13 on Caco-2 cells proliferation and viability using Trypan blue staining assay and Wst-1, respectively. We also studied the effect of RPS13 down regulation on Caco-2 cells migration using the wound healing assay. Our results showed that the proliferation decreased by 50%, viability decreased by 40% and migration was reduced upon the downregulation of RPS13 compared to control cells. Our work suggests that RPS13 plays a role in colon cancer cell proliferation, viability and migration. More studies should be done in order to elucidate if RPS13 could be a target for future colon cancer therapy.