Abstract: Objective To investigate the effect of RbAp48 knockdown on the migration and invasion of human cervical cancer
cells and explore the mechanism. Methods A small interference RNA (siRNA) was used to knock down the expression of
RbAp48 in MS751 cells. The changes in cell migration and invasion were evaluated using wound healing assay and Transwell
assay, respectively, and the expressions of RbAp48, vimentin, N-cadherin, E-cadherin, Snail, Twist, MMP-2 and TIMP-2 were
determined with Western blotting. Results After siRNA-mediated RbAp48 knockdown, MS751 cells showed a significantly
reduced expression of RbAp48 with significantly suppressed cell migration and invasion (P<0.01). RbAp48 knockdown
induced obvious down-regulation of the expressions of interstitial cell phenotype proteins vimentin, N-cadherin, and MMP-2
and up-regulation of epithelial cell phenotype proteins E-cadherin and TIMP-2, suggesting the inhibition of epithelialmesenchymal
transition of the cells. The expressions of Snail and Twist were significantly down-regulated in the cells
following RbAp48 knockdown. Conclusion Knockdown of RbAp48 can significantly inhibit epithelial-mesenchymal transition
and suppress the migration and invasion of cervical cancer cell line MS751, the mechanism of which may involve the
down-regulation of Snail and Twist expressions.