Abstract
microRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) are a conserved class of endogenous, short non-coding RNAs that post-transcriptionally regulate the expression of genes involved in diverse cellular processes. miR-214 has been reported to be associated with several cancers, including human colon cancer. However, the function of miR-214 in colon cancer development is poorly understood. In the current study, miR-214 was demonstrated to be downregulated in colon cancer tissues compared with healthy colon tissues. Functional studies showed that miR-214 overexpression results in the inhibition of cell viability, colony formation and proliferation, and the induction of cell apoptosis. ADP-ribosylation factor-like protein 2 (ARL2) is predicted to be a target candidate of miR-214. A luciferase reporter assay, western blot analysis and quantitative polymerase chain reaction were performed, which revealed that miR-214 negatively regulates ARL2 expression by targeting its 3′ untranslated region directly. In conclusion, the results of the present study revealed that miR-214 suppresses colon cancer cell growth via the suppression of ARL2, and indicated that miR-214 may present a significant potential therapeutic target for colon cancer.
Highlights
MicroRNAs are a conserved family of small non‐coding RNA molecules that are recognized as key regulators of gene expression at the post‐transcriptional level via base pair binding to the binding sites of the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of target genes, leading to target gene mRNA cleavage or translational repression [1,2]
A previous study showed that miR‐214 expression is decreased in human cervical cancer and that it inhibits cell proliferation, migration and invasion [13]
MiR‐214 is downregulated in hepatoma and inhibits tumor angiogenesis by inducing hepatoma‐derived growth factor [14]
Summary
MicroRNAs (miRNA/miRs) are a conserved family of small non‐coding RNA molecules that are recognized as key regulators of gene expression at the post‐transcriptional level via base pair binding to the binding sites of the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of target genes, leading to target gene mRNA cleavage or translational repression [1,2]. Previous studies have shown that miRNAs are involved in diverse cellular processes, including cell growth, development, apoptosis and cancer [3]. A previous study showed that ~60% of protein‐coding genes are regulated by miRNAs [5]. MiR‐125b inhibits liver cancer cell growth and metastasis by targeting LIN28B, functioning as a tumor suppressor [6]. These results indicate that miRNAs are crucial in cancer processes and may present novel biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and progression
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