Suppression of MED19 expression by shRNA induces inhibition of cell proliferation and tumorigenesis in human prostate cancer cells

MED19 is a member of the Mediator that plays a key role in the activation and repression of signal transduction or the regulation of transcription in carcinomas. To tested the functional role of MED19 in human prostate cancer, we downregulated MED19 expression in prostate cancer cells (PC-3 and DU145) by lentivirus-mediated short hairpin (shRNA), and analyzed the effect of inhibition of MED19 on prostate cancer cell proliferation and tumorigenesis. The in vitro prostate cancer cell proliferation, colony formation, and in vivo tumor growth in nude mice xenografts was significantly reduced after the downregulation of MED19. Knockdown of MED19 caused S-phase arrest and induced apoptosis via modulation of Bid and Caspase 7. It was suggested that MED19 serves as a novel proliferation regulator that promotes growth of prostate cancer cells.