MicroRNA-320a inhibits breast cancer metastasis by targeting metadherin

作者:Yu, Juan; Wang, Ji-Gang; Zhang, Lei; Yang, Hai-Ping; Wang, Lei; Ding, Di; Chen, Qi; Yang, Wen-Lin; Ren, Ke-Han; Zhou, Dan-Mei; Zou, Qiang; Jin, Yi-Ting*; Liu, Xiu-Ping*
来源:Oncotarget, 2016, 7(25): 38612-38625.
DOI:10.18632/oncotarget.9572

摘要

Dysregulated microRNAs play important pathological roles in carcinogenesis that are yet to be fully elucidated. This study was performed to investigate the biological functions of microRNA-320a (miR-320a) in breast cancer and the underlying mechanisms. Function analyses for cell proliferation, cell cycle, and cell invasion/migration, were conducted after miR-320a silencing and overexpression. The specific target genes of miR-320a were predicted by TargetScan algorithm and then determined by dual luciferase reporter assay and rescue experiment. The relationship between miR-320a and its target genes was explored in human breast cancer tissues. We found that miR-320a overexpression could inhibit breast cancer invasion and migration abilities in vitro, while miR-320a silencing could enhance that. In addition, miR-320a could suppress activity of 3'-untranslated region luciferase of metadherin (MTDH), a potent oncogene. The rescue experiment revealed that MTDH was a functional target of miR-320a. Moreover, we found that MTDH was negatively correlated with miR-320a expression, and it was related to clinical outcomes of breast cancer. Further xenograft experiment also showed that miR-320a could inhibit breast cancer metastasis in vivo. Our findings clearly demonstrate that miR-320a suppresses breast cancer metastasis by directly inhibiting MTDH expression. The present study provides a new insight into anti-oncogenic roles of miR-320a and suggests that miR320a/MTDH pathway is a putative therapeutic target in breast cancer.