MicroRNA-26a-5p Promotes Proliferation and Migration of Osteosarcoma Cells by Targeting HOXA5 in vitro and in vivo.

Abstract

BackgroundOsteosarcoma is the most common primary malignant tumor of bone. However, the underlying pathogenic mechanisms are still unclear. miR-26a was an endogenous non-coding small RNAs that have been showed to play a critical role in regulating varieties of biological and pathological processes. In this study, we will investigate the function of miR-26a-5p in osteosarcoma cells.MethodsIn this study, we explored the role of miR-26a-5p in osteosarcoma cell lines using qPCR, detected the proliferation, cell cycle and cell migration by CCK-8, PI and transwell.ResultsWe found that compared with noncancerous cells, miR-26a-5p was highly expressed in osteosarcoma cell lines, especially in U2OS cells. Overexpression of miR-26a-5p promotes cell proliferation, cell cycle, and cell migration, but inhibits cell apoptosis. But down-regulation of miR-26a-5p in U2OS cells exhibits opposite effects. We also confirmed that miR-26a-5p directly targets HOXA5 in U2OS cells. Overexpression of HOXA5 reversed the effect of miR-26a-5p on cell proliferation, migration, and apoptosis. Besides, we showed in that knock-down of miR-26a-5p or overexpression of HOXA5 increased cell sensitivity to chemotherapeutic drug paclitaxel.ConclusionThese findings indicate that highly expressed miR-26a-5p in osteosarcoma cells, and promotes proliferation and migration, but inhibits apoptosis of osteosarcoma cells by targeting HOXA5 which suggest that miR-26a-5p could serve as a novel therapeutic target for osteosarcoma.