Abstract: Objective To construct a lentiviral expression vector for human VHL and its shRNA vector, and study the effect of
VHL on proliferation and apoptosis of renal cell carcinoma cell lines. Methods Lentiviral vectors pZsGreen1-VHL and
pLL3.7-shVHL were constructed and transfected into 293T cells with 3 packaging plasmids by LipofectamineTM 2000 reagent.
The supernatant was collected to infect A498 and Caki-1 cells, respectively. VHL mRNA and protein levels were detected by
RT-PCR and Western blotting, respectively. The effect of VHL on the proliferation, cell cycle and cell apoptosis were analyzed
by MTS and flow cytometry. Results The recombinant lentiviral vectors were successfully constructed. The proliferation of
A498 cells with reconstituted wild-type VHL was significantly inhibited, while the proliferation of Caki-1 cells with VHL
knockdown was significantly enhanced as compared with the control cells (P<0.05). VHL induced G0/G1-S cell cycle arrest. The
apoptosis rate of A498 cells with reconstituted wild-type VHL was significantly increased while that of Caki-1 cells with VHL
knockdown was significantly lowered compared with the control cells (P<0.05). Conclusion VHL can inhibit the proliferation
and induce apoptosis of renal cell carcinoma cells.