Objective To investigate the effect of RNA polymerase I inhibitor CX-5461 on the proliferation, invasion and apoptosis of human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line CNE-1.

Methods Immunohistochemical staining was used to determine the difference in phosphorylated NF-κb expression between nasopharyngeal carcinoma and paracancerous tissues. Western blot was used to detect the expression of related effector proteins at the protein level. The CCK-8 method was used to detect the proliferation of CNE-1 cell line treated with different concentrations of drugs. Transwell method was applied to detect the invasive ability of CNE-1 cell line after drug treatment. Flow cytometry was used to detect cell cycle and apoptosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line CNE-1 treated with different concentrations of drugs.

Results Immunohistochemical staining showed that the expression of NF-κb in nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissues was significantly higher than that in adjacent tissues (P < 0.01). The total protein of NF-κb did not change significantly at the protein level, but the phosphorylation level and Bcl-2 were significantly decreased, while Bax was significantly increased after drug treatment (all P < 0.01). After drug treatment, the proliferation and invasion abilities of CNE-1 cell line were significantly lower than that of the control group detected by CCK-8 (P < 0.01) and Transwell (P < 0.01); Hoechst fluorescence staining showed that cell apoptosis was significantly higher than that of the control group (P < 0.01); flow cytometry showed that cell cycle of the drug-administered group was significantly blocked in the G₂ phase (P < 0.01).

Conclusion RNA polymerase I inhibitor CX-5461 could promote the apoptosis and cycle arrest, and inhibit the proliferation and invasion abilities of nasopharyngeal carcinoma CNE-1 cell line by regulating NF-κb phosphorylation.