Abstract
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a group of small non-coding RNA molecules that have been shown to regulate the expression of genes involved in tumorigenesis. The relevance of miRNAs in the development, progression and prognosis of human breast cancer is not fully understood. miR-185 has been demonstrated to be involved in the pathogenesis of several types of cancers; however, its role in breast cancer has not yet been elucidated. In the present study, the expression of miR-185 was analyzed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. In addition, an MTT assay and flow cytometry were used to determine the rates of cell proliferation and apoptosis. Protein expression was analyzed by western blotting and the target gene was confirmed using a luciferase reporter assay. The expression of miR-185 was found to be downregulated in the breast cancer tissues. The MTT assay revealed that overexpression of miR-185 inhibited the proliferation of MDF7 and SKBR3 cells. Furthermore, flow cytometric analysis demonstrated that increased expression levels of miR-185 promoted the apoptosis of breast cancer cells. In addition, c-Met expression was demonstrated to be significantly upregulated in breast cancer tissues and cells, and the c-Met gene was identified to be a target of miR-185. Therefore, the results demonstrated that miR-185 inhibited the proliferation of breast cancer cells by regulating the expression of c-Met, indicating its potential as a therapeutic target for breast cancer.
Highlights
Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of mortality from cancer among females, accounting for 23% of total cancer cases and 14% of cancer mortalities [1,2]
The results demonstrated that miR‐185 inhibited the proliferation of breast cancer cells by regulating the expression of c‐Met, indicating its potential as a therapeutic target for breast cancer
To investigate the clinical relevance of miR‐185 in human breast cancer, miR‐185 expression was analyzed in 24 paired breast cancer and adjacent non‐tumor tissues. quantitative PCR (qPCR) analysis indicated that the expression level of miR‐185 was clearly downregulated in the cancer tissues when compared with the corresponding non‐tumor samples (Fig. 1A)
Summary
Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of mortality from cancer among females, accounting for 23% of total cancer cases and 14% of cancer mortalities [1,2]. Previous investigations have demonstrated that miRNAs play a diverse role in tumorigenesis and may function as oncogenes, tumor suppressors and modulators of tumor proliferation, apoptosis and drug resistance [8,9,10]. Pediatric renal tumor and prostate cancer cases have revealed a decreased expression of miR‐185, which may be involved in tumor initiation and progression [11,12]. The biological function and underlying molecular mechanisms of miR‐185 in breast cancer have not been fully elucidated. In the current study, the association between miR‐185 and breast cancer was investigated
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