Expressions and significances of microRNA-21, PTEN, NF-κB and caspase-9 in colon carcinoma

Abstract

Objective To investigate expressions of microRNA-21 (miR-21),PTEN,NF-κB,and caspase-9 in colon carcinoma and their possible mechanisms in progression of tumor.Methods Expressions of above-mentioned indexes and percentage of apoptotic cells in colon carcinoma,colon adenoma,and normal tissue specimen were detected.Results Expressions of miR-21,PTEN,N F-κB,and caspase9 in normal tissue were 0.39 ±0.02,50％,25％,and 50％.Expressions of them in colon adenoma were 0.62 ±0.06,50％,35％,and 55％,and those in colon carcinoma were 0.88 ±0.04,30％,75％,and 20％.Percentage of apoptotic cells were (24.64 ± 7.66) ％,(15.86 ± 1.44) ％,and (6.20 ± 2.57) ％,respectively.The above P-values were all less than 0.05.Expression of miR-21 was positively correlated with TNM stage,depth of infiltration,differentiated level and expression of NF-κB while inversely correlated with PTEN and caspase-9 expressions and percentage of apoptotic cells.The r-values were 0.647,0.297,0.259,0.519,-0.299,-0.388,and-0.931,respectively.Conclusions Hyperexpression of miR-21 participated in progression of colon carcinoma probably through down-regulating expressions of PTEN and caspase-9 and up-regulating expression of NF-κB and then suppressing cell apoptosis. Key words: MicroRNAs/metabolism; Genes, tumor suppressor; NF-kappa B/metabolism; Caspase 9/metabolism; Colonic neoplasms/metabolism; Colonic neoplasms/pathology