Efficacy of TRAIL treatment against HPV16 infected cervical cancer cells undergoing senescence following siRNA knockdown of E6/E7 genes

In this study we investigated E6 and E7 oncogenes from the Human Papilloma Virus as targets for siRNA knockdown in order to boost the efficacy of the anti-cancer drug ‘tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis inducing ligand’ (TRAIL). SiHa cells were treated with TRAIL following transfection with E6/E7 siRNA and the expression of death receptors DR4 and DR5, cell viability, apoptosis, senescence and cell cycle analysis were undertaken using flow cytometry, MTT viability assay and cellular β-galactosidase activity assays. E6/E7 siRNA resulted in significant upregulation of death receptors DR4 and DR5 but did not result in an enhanced sensitivity to TRAIL. Our results indicate that E6/E7-siRNA induces senescence rather than apoptosis in SiHa cells. The occurrence of senescence in drug resistant cervical cancer cells such as the SiHa cell line by E6/E7 siRNA, among other factors, may prevent TRAIL induced activation of extrinsic and intrinsic pathways that lead to apoptotic cell death. Our findings are significant for combinatorial strategies for cancer therapy since the induction of senescence can preclude apoptosis rendering cells to be recalcitrant to TRAIL treatment.

Research highlights
► Our work investigates the efficacy of novel combinatorial strategies for treatment of drug resistant cancer cells.
► We knocked down HPV16 oncogenes E6/E7 in cervical cancer SiHa cells by siRNA and studied sensitization to the drug TRAIL.
► While significant upregulation of death receptors for TRAIL was observed, interestingly, it did not result in enhanced sensitivity to TRAIL.
► During combinatorial strategies for cancer therapy, induction of senescence can preclude apoptosis and render cells recalcitrant drugs such as TRAIL.