miR-4709 overexpression facilitates cancer proliferation and invasion via downregulating NR3C2 and is an unfavorable prognosis factor in colon adenocarcinoma

miR-3133 is an unfavorable prognosis factor and tumor suppressor in colon cancer

Dysregulated miRNAs have been demonstrated to be associated with the progression of colon cancer. The dysregulation of miR-3133 was observed in colon cancer, but its specific function was unclear. The functional role of miR-3133 in colon cancer was investigated in this study. A total of 113 colon cancer patients were included. miR-3133 expression was evaluated by PCR. The biological effects of miR-3133 in colon cancer cells were assessed with the help of the transwell and CCK8 assay. The prognostic value of miR-3133 was estimated by a series of statistical analyses. In mechanism, the interaction between miR-3133 and RUFY3 was evaluated by luciferase reporter. The significant downregulation of miR-3133 was observed in colon cancer, which showed a significant association with the advanced TNM stage and bad survival of patients. miR-3133 and TNM stage were identified as independent prognostic indicators of colon cancer. In vitro, the overexpression of miR-3133 exerted a dramatically inhibitory effect on cellular processes of colon cancer, which were enhanced by miR-3133 knockdown. Additionally, miR-3133 could negatively regulate the luciferase activity and expression of RUFY3, which was speculated as the underlying mechanism mediating the regulatory effect of miR-3133. miR-3133 functioned as a prognostic biomarker indicating the progression and prognosis of colon cancer, and it also served as a tumor suppressor via negatively regulating RUFY3, which provides a potential therapeutic target for colon cancer.

The expression changes of transcription factors including ANKZF1, LEF1, CASZ1, and ATOH1 as a predictor of survival rate in colorectal cancer: a large-scale analysis

INTRODUCTION

Transcription factors (TFs) are essential for many biological processes and regulate the expression of several genes. This study's objective was to analyze the abnormalities in TF expression, their impact on patient prognosis, and related pathways in colorectal cancer (CRC).

METHOD

The expression alterations of all TFs were investigated using the cancer genome atlas and GSE39582 data. Clinical data were also used to study the association between TFs expression and patient prognosis through the Cox regression test, and a predictive model of CRC patient survival was constructed based on TFs expression. Co-expression network was used to discover TF-related pathways. To validate the findings, the RT-qPCR method was applied to CRC samples and adjacent normal tissue.

RESULTS

The findings revealed that ANKZF1, SALL4, SNAI1, TIGD1, LEF1, FOXS1, SIX4, and ETV5 expression levels increased in both cohorts and were linked to the poor prognosis. NR3C2, KLF4, CASZ1, FOXD2, ATOH1, SALL1, and RORC expression, on the other hand, exhibited a significant decrease, and their increase was related to the good prognosis of patients. The patient mortality risk model based on expression of mentioned TFs revealed that, independent of clinical characteristics, the expression of ANKZF1, LEF1, CASZ1, and ATOH1 could accurately predict patient survival rates. According to the co-expression network, increased transcription factors were linked to metastatic pathways, while decreasing TFs were involved to apoptotic pathways. RT-qPCR findings showed that FOXS1 expression was markedly overexpressed in CRC samples. However, in CRC samples, the expression of CASZ1 decreased.

CONCLUSION

In CRC, TFs expression of ANKZF1, LEF1, CASZ1 and ATOH1 are deregulated, which are associated with prognosis in patients. According to our findings, changes in the expression of the mentioned TFs have the potential to be considered diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for CRC patients.

Nuclear receptor subfamily 3 group c member 2 (NR3C2) is downregulated due to hypermethylation and plays a tumor-suppressive role in colon cancer

Nuclear receptor subfamily 3 group c member 2 (NR3C2) has been reported to function as a tumor suppressor in several tumors. However, the clinical significance and potential action mechanisms of NR3C2 in colon cancer (COAD) remain unclear. NR3C2 expression and its correlation with clinicopathological features in COAD were analyzed based on the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and Human Protein Atlas (HPA) database were used to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic values of NR3C2 in COAD. Immune infiltration and DNA methylation analyses were performed by Gene Set Cancer Analysis (GSCA) database. NR3C2-correlated genes were identified by UALCAN database and subjected to gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment pathway analyses. Cell apoptosis and proliferation were evaluated using TUNEL and CCK-8 assays, respectively. NR3C2 was downregulated in COAD based on TCGA and GEO databases, which may be due to promoter hypermethylation. NR3C2 expression was correlated with prognosis and immune infiltration of COAD. High NR3C2 expression displayed good diagnostic value in COAD. KEGG pathway analysis presented that NR3C2-correlated genes were mainly clustered in choline metabolism in cancer and apoptosis. In vitro experiments confirmed that NR3C2 overexpression induced apoptosis and suppressed proliferation in COAD cells. In conclusion, our study revealed the potential prognostic and diagnostic values of NR3C2 and provided insights into understanding the tumor-suppressive role of NR3C2 in COAD progression.

NR3C2 suppresses the proliferation, migration, invasion and angiogenesis of colon cancer cells by inhibiting the AKT/ERK signaling pathway

Nuclear receptor subfamily 3, group C, member 2 (NR3C2) serves an antitumorigenic role in several types of cancer; however, its role and mechanisms of action in colon cancer remains to be elucidated. The aim of the present study was to explore the effects of NR3C2 on the proliferation, migration, invasion and angiogenesis of colon cancer cells. The expression levels of NR3C2 in human colon epithelial NCM460 cells (spontaneously immortalized cell line) and colon cancer cell lines was detected using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and western blotting. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and colony formation assays were used to assess cell viability and wound healing and Transwell assays were used to detect cell invasion and migration. ELISA was used to detect the expression levels of VEGF and tube formation assays were used to assess angiogenesis. The expression levels of angiogenesis-related proteins and AKT/ERK signaling pathway-related proteins were detected by western blotting. NR3C2 expression was downregulated in colon cancer cells and overexpression of NR3C2 inhibited proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion of colon cancer cells. Overexpression of NR3C2 inhibited angiogenesis and activity of the AKT/ERK signaling pathway in colon cancer cells. Thus, it was demonstrated that NR3C2 inhibited the proliferation, colony formation, migration, invasion and angiogenesis of colon cancer cells through the AKT/ERK signaling pathway. These results may highlight novel targets for the treatment of colon cancer.

Construction of a Pearson- and MIC-Based Co-expression Network to Identify Potential Cancer Genes

The weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) method constructs co-expressed gene modules based on the linear similarity between paired gene expressions. Linear correlations are the main form of similarity between genes, however, nonlinear correlations still existed and had always been ignored. We proposed a modified network analysis method, WGCNA-P + M, which combines Pearson's correlation coefficient and the maximum information coefficient (MIC) as the similarity measures to assess the linear and nonlinear correlations between genes, respectively. Taking two real datasets, GSE44861 and liver hepatocellular carcinoma (TCGA-LIHC), as examples, we compared the gene modules constructed by WGCNA-P + M and WGCNA from four perspectives: the "Usefulness" score, GO enrichment analysis on genes in the gray module, prediction performance of the top hub gene, survival analysis and literature reports on different hub genes. The results showed that the modules obtained by WGCNA-P + M are more biological meaningful, the hub genes obtained from WGCNA-P + M have more potential cancer genes.

Identification of a Novel Transcription Factor Prognostic Index for Breast Cancer

Transcription factors (TFs) are the mainstay of cancer and have a widely reported influence on the initiation, progression, invasion, metastasis, and therapy resistance of cancer. However, the prognostic values of TFs in breast cancer (BC) remained unknown. In this study, comprehensive bioinformatics analysis was conducted with data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. We constructed the co-expression network of all TFs and linked it to clinicopathological data. Differentially expressed TFs were obtained from BC RNA-seq data in TCGA database. The prognostic TFs used to construct the risk model for progression free interval (PFI) were identified by Cox regression analyses, and the PFI was analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier method. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and clinical variables stratification analysis were used to detect the accuracy of the prognostic model. Additionally, we performed functional enrichment analysis by analyzing the differential expressed gene between high-risk and low-risk group. A total of nine co-expression modules were identified. The prognostic index based on 4 TFs (NR3C2, ZNF652, EGR3, and ARNT2) indicated that the PFI was significantly shorter in the high-risk group than their low-risk counterpart (p < 0.001). The ROC curve for PFI exhibited acceptable predictive accuracy, with an area under the curve value of 0.705 and 0.730. In the stratification analyses, the risk score index is an independent prognostic variable for PFI. Functional enrichment analyses showed that high-risk group was positively correlated with mTORC1 signaling pathway. In conclusion, the TF-related signature for PFI constructed in this study can independently predict the prognosis of BC patients and provide a deeper understanding of the potential biological mechanism of TFs in BC.

Integration of the Microbiome, Metabolome and Transcriptomics Data Identified Novel Metabolic Pathway Regulation in Colorectal Cancer

Integrative multiomics data analysis provides a unique opportunity for the mechanistic understanding of colorectal cancer (CRC) in addition to the identification of potential novel therapeutic targets. In this study, we used public omics data sets to investigate potential associations between microbiome, metabolome, bulk transcriptomics and single cell RNA sequencing datasets. We identified multiple potential interactions, for example 5-aminovalerate interacting with Adlercreutzia; cholesteryl ester interacting with bacterial genera Staphylococcus, Blautia and Roseburia. Using public single cell and bulk RNA sequencing, we identified 17 overlapping genes involved in epithelial cell pathways, with particular significance of the oxidative phosphorylation pathway and the ACAT1 gene that indirectly regulates the esterification of cholesterol. These findings demonstrate that the integration of multiomics data sets from diverse populations can help us in untangling the colorectal cancer pathogenesis as well as postulate the disease pathology mechanisms and therapeutic targets.

Identification and Verification of a 17 Immune-Related Gene Pair Prognostic Signature for Colon Cancer

Background

Colon cancer (CC) is a malignant tumor with a high incidence and poor prognosis. Accumulating evidence shows that the immune signature plays an important role in the tumorigenesis, progression, and prognosis of CC. Our study is aimed at establishing a novel robust immune-related gene pair signature for predicting the prognosis of CC.

Methods

Gene expression profiles and corresponding clinical information are obtained from two public data sets: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO, GSE39582). We screened out immune-related gene pairs (IRGPs) associated with prognosis in the discovery cohort. Lasso-Cox proportional hazard regression was used to develop the best prognostic signature model. According to this, the patients in the validation cohort were divided into high immune-risk group and low immune-risk group, and the prediction ability of the signature model was verified by survival analysis and independent prognostic analysis.

Results

A total of 17 IRGPs composed of 26 IRGs were used to construct a prognostic-related risk scoring model. This model accurately predicted the prognosis of CC patients, and the patients in the high immune-risk group indicated poor prognosis in the discovery cohort and validation cohort. Besides, whether in univariate or multivariate analysis, the IRGP signature was an independent prognostic factor. T cell CD4 memory resting in the low-risk group was significantly higher than that in the high-risk group. Functional analysis showed that the biological processes of the low-risk group included "TCA cycle" and "RNA degradation," while the high-risk group was enriched in the "CAMs" and "focal adhesion" pathways.

Conclusion

We have successfully established a signature model composed of 17 IRGPs, which provides a novel idea to predict the prognosis of CC patients.

A Dynamic Transcription Factor Signature Along the Colorectal Adenoma-Carcinoma Sequence in Patients With Co-Occurrent Adenoma and Carcinoma

Background

Colorectal carcinoma (CRC) often arises from benign adenoma after a stepwise accumulation of genetic alterations. Here, we profiled the dynamic landscapes of transcription factors (TFs) in the mucosa-adenoma-carcinoma progression sequence.

Methods

The transcriptome data of co-occurrent adenoma, carcinoma, and normal mucosa samples were obtained from GSE117606. Identification of differentially expressed TFs (DE-TFs) and subsequent function annotation were conducted in R software. Expression patterns of DE-TFs were clustered by Short Time-series Expression Miner software. Thereafter, modular co-expression analysis, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, mutation profiling, and gene set enrichment analysis were conducted to investigate TF dynamics in colorectal tumorigenesis. Finally, tissue microarrays, including 51 tumors, 32 adenomas, and 53 normal tissues, were employed to examine the expression of significant candidates by immunohistochemistry staining.

Results

Compared to normal tissues, 20 (in adenoma samples) and 29 (in tumor samples) DE-TFs were identified. During the disease course, 28 expression patterns for DE-TFs and four co-expression modules were clustered. Notably, six DE-TFs, DACH1, GTF2IRD1, MEIS2, NR3C2, SOX9, and SPIB, were identified as having a dynamic signature along the colorectal adenoma-carcinoma sequence. The dynamic signature was of significance in GO enrichment, prognosis, and co-expression analysis. Among the 6-TF signature, the roles of GTF2IRD1, SPIB and NR3C2 in CRC progression are unclear. Immunohistochemistry validation showed that GTF2IRD1 enhanced significantly throughout the mucosa-adenoma-carcinoma sequence, while SPIB and NR3C2 kept decreasing in stroma during the disease course.

Conclusions

Our study provided a dynamic 6-TF signature throughout the course of colorectal mucosa-adenoma-carcinoma. These findings deepened the understanding of colorectal cancer pathogenesis.

The value of miR-510 in the prognosis and development of colon cancer

Purpose

Colon cancer is one of the malignant tumors that threatens human health. miR-510 was demonstrated to play roles in the progression of various cancers; its dysregulation was speculated to be associated with the development of colon cancer.

Methods

One hundred and thirteen colon cancer patients participated in this research. With the help of RT-qPCR, the expression of miR-510 in collected tissues and cultured cells was analyzed. The association between miR-510 expression level and clinical features and prognosis of patients was evaluated. Moreover, the effects of miR-510 on cell proliferation, migration, and invasion of colon cancer were assessed by CCK8 and Transwell assay.

Results

miR-510 significantly upregulated in colon cancer tissues and cell lines relative to the adjacent normal tissues and colonic cells. The expression of miR-510 was significantly associated with the TNM stage and poor prognosis of patients, indicating miR-510 was involved in the disease progression and clinical prognosis of colon cancer. Additionally, the upregulation of miR-510 significantly promoted cell proliferation, migration, and invasion of colon cancer, while its knockdown significantly inhibited these cellular processes. SRCIN 1 was the direct target of miR-510 during its promoted effect on the development of colon cancer.

Conclusion

The upregulation of miR-510 acts as an independent prognostic indicator and a tumor promoter by targeting SRCIN 1 in colon cancer, which provides novel therapeutic strategies for colon cancer.

Micro-RNA 122 and micro-RNA 96 affected human osteosarcoma biological behavior and associated with prognosis of patients with osteosarcoma

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common bone malignancy in both children and adolescents. In the present study, we aimed to explore the association of miRNA-122 and miRNA-96 expression with the clinical characteristics and prognosis of patients with osteosarcoma. The expression of miRNA-122 and miRNA-96 in human osteosarcoma cell lines and tissues were detected in the present study. Reverse transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR) was used to determine the expression levels of miRNA-122 and miRNA-96 in 68 human OS samples. We found that MiRNA-122 and miRNA-96 were widely up-regulated in osteosarcoma, gastric cancer and pancreatic cancer. In HOS, Saos-2 and U2OS osteosarcoma cells, miRNA-122 and miRNA-96 were up-regulated significantly, while down-regulated in MG-63 cells. After further investigation, we found that miRNA-122 and miRNA-96 concentrations were significantly higher in the tumor tissues than those in the normal tissues (P<0.01). Moreover, the cell proliferation of LV-miRNA-122-RNAi and LV-miRNA-96-RNAi transfected SaOS2 was significantly decreased compared with the LV- miRNA-122-RNAi-CN and LV- miRNA-96-RNAi group. After adjusting for competing risk factors, we found combined high miRNA-122 and miRNA-96 expression was identified as independent predictor of overall survival.

The LINC01410/miR-122-5p/NDRG3 axis is involved in the proliferation and migration of osteosarcoma cells

PURPOSE

It is generally accepted that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) function as vital regulators of tumor development and progression. Long intergenic non-coding RNA 1410 (LINC01410) is a newly discovered lncRNA, and its role in osteosarcoma (OS) is yet to be determined.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The expression of LINC01410, microRNA-122-5p (miR-122-5p), and N-myc downstream-regulated gene 3 (NDRG3) in OS tissues was determined using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. Interactions between LINC01410, miR-122-5p, and NDRG3 were predicted and verified using bioinformatics tools and luciferase assays. Cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were detected using cell counting Kit-8 and Transwell assays.

RESULTS

LINC01410 was overexpressed in OS tissues. Furthermore, it was confirmed that LINC01410 facilitated OS cell proliferation and migration. Our studies also showed that LINC01410 binds to miR-122-5p, and miR-122-5p binds to NDRG3. Finally, we observed that LINC01410 knockdown inhibited the proliferation, invasion, and migration of OS cells. Knockdown of LINC01410 resulted in the upregulation of miR-122-5p and downregulation of NDRG3.

CONCLUSION

Our results demonstrated that the LINC01410/miR-122-5p/NDRG3 axis is involved in the progression of OS.

miR-301b and NR3C2 co-regulate cells malignant properties and have the potential to be independent prognostic factors in breast cancer

This study intends to address the function of miR-301b/nuclear receptor subfamily 3 group C member 2 (NR3C2) in breast cancer. The Cancer Genome Atlas database was processed to investigate the expression of miR-301b/NR3C2 in breast cancer samples, as well as the relationship between their expression and the prognosis of the patients. Cox regression analysis was performed to determine whether miR-301b/NR3C2 was an independent predictor of the patient's prognosis. Associations between miR-301b and NR3C2 were analyzed by prediction website, dual-luciferase assay, and Pearson correlation coefficient. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analyses were implemented to detect gene expression. The relevant biological characteristics of MCF7 and BCAP-37 cells were tested by cell counting kit-8, colony formation, and transwell assays. Lower expression of NR3C2, which was closely related to the bad prognosis of breast cancer patients, was presented in breast cancer samples and can be used as an independent predictor. miR-301b, as an upstream regulator of NR3C2, was highly expressed in breast cancer samples and can be used as an independent predictor as well. Notably, a higher level of miR-301b and lower level of NR3C2 were related to the reduced overall survival in patients with breast cancer. The proliferative and migratory behaviors of cells were elevated or blocked after overexpression of miR-301b or NR3C2, respectively. However, the above situation was attenuated after together upregulation of miR-301b and NR3C2. The present data afforded evidence that miR-301b may be a tumor-promoting miRNA in breast cancer, and that miR-301b/NR3C2 axis mediated tumor development from cell proliferation and migration.

NR3C2-Related Transcriptome Profile and Clinical Outcome in Invasive Breast Carcinoma

Background

Increasing evidence has indicated that the nuclear receptor subfamily 3 group C member 2 (NR3C2) may be associated with tumorigenesis and patient prognosis for certain types of tumors. However, the clinical significance of NR3C2 is unclear in invasive breast carcinoma (BRCA).

Methods

We used bioinformatics to broadly investigate and obtain a deeper understanding of the prognostic significance between NR3C2 and BRCA. RNA-sequencing data and clinical information of patients with BRCA from the Cancer Genome Atlas database were collected for subsequent analysis. The diagnostic efficacy of NR3C2 was evaluated by calculating the receiver operating characteristic curve. The prognostic value of NR3C2 was evaluated by Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression analysis for patients with BRCA. Moreover, the OSbrca database was used to validate NR3C2 as a prognostic biomarker for BRCA. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and tumor immune infiltration analysis were conducted to explore the molecular mechanism of NR3C2 in BRCA.

Results

The expression level of NR3C2 in BRCA tissues decreased compared to that in normal breast tissues (P < 0.001). NR3C2 presented good diagnostic efficacy (AUC = 0.908). Moreover, the expression of NR3C2 was verified using the Oncomine database. High expression of NR3C2 was statistically associated with prolonged overall survival (HR = 0.65, 95% CI: 0.47-0.91, and P = 0.012), progression-free interval (HR = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.49-0.95, and P = 0.024), and disease-specific survival (HR = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.36-0.89, and P = 0.015) for patients with BRCA. Besides, the prognostic value of NR3C2 was verified by the OSbrca database. GSEA results suggested that enriched pathways included neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, focal adhesion, and ECM-receptor interaction. NR3C2 expression was moderately correlated with mast cells and some T cell subsets in BRCA.

Conclusion

NR3C2 is a potential prognostic biomarker that could help clinicians develop more appropriate treatment plans for individual patients with BRCA.

miR-224, miR-147b and miR-31 associated with lymph node metastasis and prognosis for lung adenocarcinoma by regulating PRPF4B, WDR82 or NR3C2

Background

The present study is to screen lymph node metastasis-related microRNAs (miRNAs) in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and uncover their underlying mechanisms.

Methods

The miRNA microarray dataset was collected from the Gene Expression Omnibus database under accession number GSE64859. The differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) were identified using a t-test. Target genes of DEMs were predicted through the miRWalk2.0 database. The function of these target genes was annotated with the clusterProfiler and the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) tools. Protein-protein interaction network was established using the STRING database to extract hub target genes. The expressions and associations with survival and lymph node metastasis of miRNAs and target genes were validated by analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset.

Results

Eight DEMs were identified between lymph node metastasis and non-metastasis samples of GSE64859 dataset. miRNA-target gene pairs were predicted between six DEMs and 251 target genes (i.e. hsa-miR-224-PRPF4B, hsa-miR-147b-WDR82 and hsa-miR-31-NR3C2). The clusterProfiler analysis showed WDR82 was involved in the mRNA surveillance pathway, while the GO enrichment analysis using the DAVID database indicated PRPF4B participated in the protein phosphorylation and NR3C2 was related with the transcription, DNA-templated. WDR82 and PRPF4B may be hub genes because they could interact with others. Two DEMs (miR-31-5p and miR-31-3p) and 45 target genes (including PRPF4B and NR3C2) were significantly associated with overall survival. The expressions of miR-224 and miR-147b were validated to be upregulated, while WDR82, PRPF4B and NR3C2 were downregulated in lymph node metastasis samples of TCGA datasets compared with non-metastasis samples. Also, there were significantly negative expression correlations between miR-147b and WDR82, between miR-224 and PRPF4B, as well as between miR-31 and NR3C2 in LUAD samples.

Conclusions

The present study identified several crucial miRNA-mRNA interaction pairs, which may provide novel explanations for the lymph node metastasis and poor prognosis for LUAD patients.

Identification of Monotonically Differentially Expressed Genes across Pathologic Stages for Cancers

Given the fact that cancer is a multistage progression process resulting from genetic sequence mutations, the genes whose expression values increase or decrease monotonically across pathologic stages are potentially involved in tumor progression. This may provide insightful clues about how human cancers advance, thereby facilitating more personalized treatments. By replacing the expression values of genes with their GeneRanks, we propose a procedure capable of identifying monotonically differentially expressed genes (MEGs) as the disease advances. Using three real-world gene expression data that cover three distinct cancer types-colon, esophageal, and lung cancers-the proposed procedure has demonstrated excellent performance in detecting the potential MEGs. To conclude, the proposed procedure can detect MEGs across pathologic stages of cancers very efficiently and is thus highly recommended.

miR-1225-5p inhibits non-small cell lung cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion, and may be a prognostic biomarker

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a malignant tumor, which presents with a high 5-year mortality rate owing to the lack of an effective early screening tool and the absence of obvious early symptoms. MicroRNAs (miRs/miRNAs) have attracted increasing attention due to their significant clinical value in the diagnosis and prognosis of various human malignancies. The present study aimed to investigate the expression levels of microRNA (miR)-1225-5p in NSCLC and to analyze its prognostic value and biological role. The expression levels of miR-1225-5p in the tissues of patients with NSCLC and NSCLC cell lines were analyzed using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. The association between miR-1225-5p expression levels and the clinicopathological features of patients with NSCLC was analyzed using a χ² test. The prognostic value of miR-1225-5p in NSCLC was analyzed using both Kaplan Meier survival and Cox regression analyses, and the effects of miR-1225-5p on NSCLC cell proliferation, migration and invasion were examined. The results revealed that the expression levels of miR-1225-5p were significantly downregulated in NSCLC tissues compared with normal control tissues. Furthermore, miR-1225-5p was discovered to be a potential independent prognostic factor in NSCLC. The inhibition of miR-1225-5p in NSCLC cell lines led to increased cell proliferation, migration and invasion, whereas miR-1225-5p overexpression exerted the opposite effects in these cells. In conclusion, the findings of the present study indicated that the downregulated expression levels of miR-1225-5p in NSCLC may predict a poor prognosis in patients and suggested miR-1225-5p as a potential therapeutic target for NSCLC.

MicroRNA-1298 is downregulated in non-small cell lung cancer and suppresses tumor progression in tumor cells

BACKGROUND

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported to serve pivotal roles in tumorigenesis. This study sough to assess the expression and clinical significance of microRNA-1298 (miR-1298) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and explore the functional role of miR-1298 in tumorigenesis.

METHODS

One hundred and twenty-one NSCLC patients were recruited in this study. The expression of miR-1298 was estimated using quantitative real-time PCR. Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Cox regression analysis were used to evaluate the prognostic value of miR-1298. Gain- and loss-of-function experiments were preformed to explore the biological function of miR-1298 in NSCLC cells.

RESULTS

Expression levels of miR-1298 were downregulated in NSCLC tissues and cells compared with the corresponding normal controls. The decreased expression of miR-1298 was associated with patients' lymph node metastasis and TNM stage. The low expression of miR-1298 predicted poor overall survival and served as an independent prognostic indicator in NSCLC patients. According to the cell experiments, NSCLC cell proliferation, migration and invasion were inhibited by the overexpression of miR-1298.

CONCLUSION

All the data indicated that the downregulation of miR-1298 predicts poor prognosis of NSCLC, and the overexpression of miR-1298 in NSCLC cells leads to inhibited tumorigenesis. The aberrant miR-1298 may serve as a novel biomarker and therapeutic target in NSCLC.