Abstract: Objective To investigate the effect of silencing hnRNP A2/B1 on the proliferation and apoptosis of cervical cancer CaSki cells and the relative mechanism. Methods hnRNP A2/B1 stably silencing CaSki cell line was established and divided into three groups. The cells with hnRNP A2 / B1 target silencing were used as the CaSki-shRNA group, the negative vector was used as the negative control group (CaSki-NC). The blank control group (CaSki) was not treated. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and Western blot assay were used to detect the mRNA and protein expression levels of hnRNP A2/B1. Cell proliferation and colony formation capacity were determined by MTT assay and plate formation assay. The apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry. Western blot assay was performed to reveal the expressions of apoptosisrelated proteins Bcl-2 and Bax. Results The results of qRT-PCR and Western bolt assay confirmed that the mRNA and protein expressions of hnRNP A2/B1 decreased significantly in the CaSki-shRNA group compared with those of CaSki group and the CaSki-NC group. In the CaSki-shRNA group, the proliferation and colony forming ability of CaSki cells decreased, the apoptosis increased and the expression of Bcl-2 was significantly downregulated and Bax was upregulated (P＜0.01). There was no significant difference between CaSki group and CaSki-NC group (P＞0.05). Conclusion Silencing hnRNP A2/B1 can inhibit the proliferation in cervical cancer CaSki cells and may induce cell apoptosis via Bcl-2/Bax

Key words: uterine cervical neoplasms, apoptosis, proto-oncogene proteins c-bcl-2, bcl-2-associated X protein； ribonucleoprotein A2/B1