Knockdown of E2F3 Inhibits Proliferation, Migration, and Invasion and Increases Apoptosis in Glioma Cells.

E2F3a, as a member of the E2F family, is essential for cell division associated with the progression of many cancers. However, the biological effect of E2F3a on glioma is not understood as well. To investigate the functional mechanism of E2F3a in glioma, we examined the expression of E2F3a in glioma tissue and cell lines. We found that E2F3a was upregulated in glioma tissue compared with adjacent tissue, and this was associated with a poor survival rate. E2F3a was highly expressed in glioma cell lines compared with normal HEB cell lines. Knockdown of E2F3a significantly inhibited cell proliferation, promoted G0/G1 phase arrest, elevated apoptosis rates, and suppressed cell migration and invasion. However, overexpression of E2F3a markedly promoted cell proliferation, migration, and invasion and inhibited apoptosis. Moreover, in vivo studies showed that knockdown of E2F3a expression dramatically inhibited U373 tumor growth in a nude mouse model. Results of real-time PCR and Western blot showed that the depletion of E2F3a upregulated the expression levels of cell apoptosis-related proteins and downregulated migration-related proteins. Conversely, E2F3a overexpression downregulated the expression levels of cell apoptosis-related proteins and upregulated migration-related proteins. In conclusion, our results highlight the importance of E2F3a in glioma and provide new insights into the diagnostics and therapeutics of gliomas.