Arsenic trioxide inhibits cell growth and motility via up-regulation of let-7a in breast cancer cells

作者:Shi, Ying; Cao, Tong; Huang, Hua; Lian, Chaoqun; Yang, Ying; Wang, Zhiwei*; Ma, Jia*; Xia, Jun*
来源:Cell Cycle, 2017, 16(24): 2396-2403.
DOI:10.1080/15384101.2017.1387699

摘要

Arsenic trioxide (ATO) has been reported to exert its anti-cancer activities in human cancers. However, the molecular mechanism of ATO-triggered anti-tumor activity has not been fully elucidated. Recently, multiple studies demonstrated that ATO could regulate miRNAs in human cancers. Therefore, in this study, we investigated whether ATO regulated let-7a in breast cancer cells. We found that ATO upregulated let-7a level in breast cancer cells. We also found that up-regulation of let-7a inhibited cell growth and induced apoptosis and retarded cell migration and invasion. We also observed that up-regulation of let-7a enhanced cell growth inhibition and invasion suppression induced by ATO treatment. Our findings suggest that ATO suppressed cell growth, stimulated apoptosis, and retarded cell invasion partly via upregulation of let-7a in breast cancer cells. Our study provides a new anti-tumor mechanism of ATO treatment in breast cancer.