Growth Inhibition of Multiple Myeloma Cells Caused by MicroRNA-15a and Its Mechanisms

Abstract

To explore the effect and possible mechanisms of miR-15a on growth of multiple myeloma(MM) cells. MM cell lines (U266 and RPMI8226) were transfected by lentiviral particles. MM stable cell lines were selected and collected by flow cytometry (FCM). Proliferation of MM cells before and after miR-15a high expression was detected by CCK-8 method. Apoptosis of MM cells before and after miR-15a high expression was detected by AO/EB dying, Hoechst 33258 dying and FCM, respectively. Cell cycle of MM cells before and after miR-15a high expression was detected by FCM. The expressions of miR-15a, BMI-1 and BCL-2 mRNA of MM cells before and after miR-15a high expression were detected by real-time PCR. The expressions of BMI-1 protein of MM cells before and after miR-15a high expression were detected by Western blot. MM stable cell lines with miR-15a high expression was acquired. CCK-8 result showed that high expression of miR-15a could inhibit growth of MM cells (U266 and RPMI8226). AO/EB dying, Hoechst 33258 dying and FCM testing results showed that high expression of miR-15a could significantly induce apoptosis of MM cells (U266 and RPMI8226). The apoptosis rates of U266 and RPMI8226 cells in high expression group and control group were 90.52% vs 37.08% and 59.40% vs 44.17%, respectively. Meanwhile, FCM testing results showed that high expression of miR-15a could induce G1 arrest of MM cells (U266 and RPMI8226), which proportion of G1 phase were 41.50%±0.64%, 45.31%±0.77%, respectively. Real-time PCR results showed that during the growth inhibition process of MM cells caused by miR-15a high expression, the expression of BCL-2 mRNA decreased, but there was no significant changes in the expression of BMI-1 mRNA, while the expression of BMI-1 protein decreased significantly. High expression of miR-15a can induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis of MM cells, then inhibit their growth. The mechanisms may be related with the negative regulation of BMI-1 and BCL-2 genes in post-transcription level caused by miR-15a.