SOST silencing promotes proliferation and invasion and reduces apoptosis of retinoblastoma cells by activating Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway

This study aimed to investigate the effects of SOST and the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway on the proliferation, migration, invasion, and apoptosis of human retinoblastoma cells. Fifty-five retinoblastoma and 21 normal retinal tissue samples were collected as the case group and control group, respectively. HXO-RB44 and SO-RB50 cells were selected and assigned into blank, negative control (NC), siRNA 1, siRNA 2, siRNA 3, IWR-1-endo 1, IWR-1-endo 2 and IWR-1-endo 3 groups. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was applied to detect the expression of SOST, Wnt-1, and beta-catenin in the collected tissue samples. MTT assay, flow cytometry, transwell assay and the starch test were employed to determine the cell proliferation, cell cycle, apoptosis, invasion and migration after transfection. The qRT-PCR and western blotting were also used to detect the mRNA and protein expressions of SOST, Wnt-1, beta-catenin, C-myc, Cyclin D1, MMP-2 and MMP-9. The tumor formation in nude mice was conducted to evaluate the effects of SOST on the growth of a transplanted tumor. Compared with normal retinal tissues, the retinoblastoma tissues exhibited a downregulation of SOST but an upregulation of Wnt-1 and beta-catenin. The proliferation, invasion and migration of HXO-RB44 and SO-RB50 cells in the SOST-siRNA group were significantly higher than the cells in the blank and NC groups. The expressions of Wnt-1, beta-catenin, C-myc, Cyclin D1, MMP-2 and MMP-9 in the three SOST-siRNA groups were elevated, but the SOST decreased when compared with the blank and NC groups. SOST silencing promoted the growth of transplanted tumors in nude mice. These findings indicate that SOST silencing promotes the proliferation, invasion and migration, and decreases the apoptosis of human retinoblastoma cells by activating the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway.