Androglobin knockdown inhibits growth of glioma cell lines.

Globin family was famous for oxygen supply function of its members such as hemoglobin and myoglobin. With the progress of research, several members of this protein family have been proven to play roles in tumors including glioma. Androglobin (ADGB) is a recently identified member of globin family with very few studies about its function. In the present study, we show that ADGB plays an oncogene role in glioma. Lentiviral vector mediated ADGB knockdown inhibited the proliferation of glioma cell lines determined by MTT assay and colony formation assay. ADGB knockdown also increased the apoptosis of glioma cell line U251 assessed by flow cytometry. In addition, western blot showed that ADGB knockdown altered levels of several proteins related to proliferation, survival or apoptosis in U251 cells. These findings suggest ADGB is involved in the progression of glioma in vitro.