MicroRNA-143 (miR-143) Suppresses Cell Proliferation and Invasion by Downregulating AKT/STAT3/NF-κB Pathway in Tongue Squamous Cell Carcinoma (TSCC)

Abstract

Background: MicroRNA-143 (miR-143) has been reported that its biological function is to serve as a target to inhibit tumor progression in human oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). However, its role and molecular mechanisms in tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) were still unknown. Methods: Several in vitro experiments were performed using CAL-27 cells, including cell proliferation experiment, wound healing experiment, flow cytometry, transwell and colony formation experiments. In addition, we also performed in vivo experiments to study the potential application of miR-143 in tumorigenesis of TSCC. Result: The result exhibited that miR-143 up-regulation could significantly suppress proliferation, migration and invasion ability of CAL-27 cells and make these cells stop at G0/G1 phase. We reported that upregulation of miR-143 would suppress its tumorigenic ability. Moreover, we also found that the overexpression of miR-143 would reduce the phosphorylation level of STAT3, p65 and AKT. In addition, miR-143 overexpression decreases CDK2 expression while as expression level of E-cadherin was increased.