Efficient Silencing of bcr/abl Oncogene by Single- and Double-Stranded siRNAs Targeted against b2a2 Transcripts

In this work, double- and single-stranded small-interference RNAs (siRNAs) were designed to knock down the bcr/abl oncogene in leukaemia KYO-1 cells. The siRNA molecules were targeted against two distinct sites encompassing the b2a2 junction of the bcr/abl transcripts. The siRNAs were able to reduce the levels of both bcr/abl mRNA and protein p210(BCR/ABL). Conversely, control siRNAs bearing 3 or 4 base-pair substitutions did not produce any inhibitory effect. The designed siRNAs were also found to be active in KCl22 cells, which harbor the b2a2 junction, but not in K562 cells, which, by contrast, harbor the b3a2 junction. The anti-b2a2 siRNAs promoted biological effects on KYO-1 cells, because the bcr/abl suppression resulted in the inhibition of cell growth and colony formation in agar and activation of apoptosis and upregulation of the cell-cycle inhibitor p27 protein. The bioactivity of the designed siRNAs is discussed in terms of internal stability of the RNA duplexes. Our data suggest that siRNAs can be considered strong tools for functional analysis of bcr/abl and for developing molecular therapeutic approaches to leukaemia.