Construction of a plasmid for overexpression of human circadian gene period2 and its biological activity in osteosarcoma cells.

Beyond their established role in the mammalian circadian clock, recent studies have confirmed that the circadian genes have been implicated in tumor onset and progression. Currently, the biological effects of circadian genes on osteosarcoma cells' proliferation and migration are not well understood. Period2 (Per2) is one of the core circadian genes that act as master regulators of development and is frequently dysregulated in several cancers. However, the effects of human Per2 (hPer2) on the biological behavior of osteosarcoma cells are rarely reported. In the present study, to address the expression of hPer2 in osteosarcoma cells, the pEGFP-N1-hPer2 eukaryotic expression vector was constructed and transfected into cultured MG63 cells using Lipofectamine™ 2000. The overexpression of hPer2 in MG63 cells was verified by qRT-PCR and Western blotting, respectively. Finally, we investigated the effects of hPer2 protein overexpression on MG63 cells' viability, cycle, apoptosis, and invasive ability. In conclusion, the recombinant pEGFP-N1-hPer2 plasmid had been constructed successfully and expressed effectively in MG63 cells. Furthermore, results also showed that the viability, proliferation, and invasive abilities were suppressed, and the apoptosis was enhanced in MG63 cells. This preliminary study provides ground work for further research on the roles of circadian gene hPer2 in osteosarcoma cells MG63 and would offer promise for the development of novel therapeutic strategies in the treatment of osteosarcoma.