Oncogenic Role and Prognostic Value of Microrna-937-3P in Patients with Breast Cancer
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OncoTargets and Therapy Dovepress open access to scientific and medical research Open Access Full Text Article ORIGINAL RESEARCH Oncogenic Role and Prognostic Value of MicroRNA-937-3p in Patients with Breast Cancer This article was published in the following Dove Press journal: OncoTargets and Therapy Deyu Li1,2 Purpose: Breast cancer is the most common female tumor in the world. MicroRNA has Jiangming Zhong1,2 been reported to play an important role in the progression of breast cancer. The purpose of Guifeng Zhang1,2 this study was to explore the role of miR-937-3p in breast cancer. Li Lin1,2 Patients and methods: Expression of miR-937-3p in breast cancer tissues and serums was Zhenhua Liu1,2 detected from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and patients’ samples. Kaplan–Meier plotter identified the association between miR-937-3p and 1 Department of Medical Oncology, prognosis. Provincial Clinical College, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350001, People’s Results: The analysis of TCGA, GEO and qRT-PCR suggested that the level of miR-937-3p Republic of China; 2Department of was increased in breast cancer tissues and serum compared with adjacent normal breast Medical Oncology, Fujian Provincial tissues and healthy persons, respectively. The decreased expression of miR-937-3p inhibited Hospital, Fuzhou 350001, People’s Republic of China breast cancer proliferation, migration and invasion. CCRL2 was the target of miR-937-3p. In contrast to miR-937-3p, the level of CCRL2 was decreased in breast cancer tissues. Luciferase reporter assay revealed that miR-937-3p directly bound to the 3ʹ-UTR of CCRL2. Double knockdown of CCRL2 and miR-937-3p promoted breast cancer cell pro- liferation, migration and invasion, suggesting that miR-937-3p promoted breast cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion by targeting CCRL2. The Kaplan–Meier survival analysis suggested that breast cancer patients with high level of miR-937-3p or low level of CCRL2 had a reduced overall survival (OS). Conclusion: miR-937-3p plays an important role in the diagnosis and prognosis of breast cancer. Inhibition of miR-937-3p expression may be a novel targeted therapy for breast cancer. Keywords: miR-937-3p, breast cancer, proliferation, migration, invasion, prognosis Introduction The incidence of cancer in the world is increasing year by year, and cancer has replaced diseases such as heart disease as the main cause of human death.1 Breast cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed malignant tumors in women. In recent years, the incidence of breast cancer has gradually increased, and the age of onset has gradually become younger, which poses a great threat to women’s health.2 Tumor formation is a complex dynamic process involving multiple biological factors. MicroRNAs are a class of non-coding RNAs of 20–22 nucleotides, and able Correspondence: Zhenhua Liu to couple with its complementary mRNA, leading to degradation of the coupled Department of Medical Oncology, – Provincial Clinical College, Fujian Medical mRNA.3 7 Lee et al first discovered the first gene lin-4 that regulates late embryo University, No. 134 Dongjie Street, 8 Fuzhou 350001, Fujian Province, People’s development in Caenorhabditis elegans, which opened the miRNA research prelude. Republic of China Related studies have shown that miRNAs that regulate gene expression are involved in Tel +86 591-88217461 Email [email protected] almost every cellular process, including cholesterol metabolism, embryo implantation, submit your manuscript | www.dovepress.com OncoTargets and Therapy 2019:12 11045–11056 11045 DovePress © 2019 Li et al. This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php – http://doi.org/10.2147/OTT.S229510 and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms (https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php). Li et al Dovepress insulin synthesis, and hematopoiesis.9–12 miRNAs play an miR-937-3p in breast cancer and its effect on breast cancer important role in the regulation of biological processes such cell proliferation and metastasis, as well as the relationship as cell proliferation, cell pluripotency, tissue differentiation, between miR-937-3p and clinical parameters, has not been and apoptosis.13,14 Abnormal expression of miRNAs can reported. cause a variety of diseases. It has become an indisputable This study investigated the correlations between miR- fact that miRNAs are abnormally expressed in most malig- 937-3p expression, cell function and clinical characteris- nant tumors in humans. Specific tumor types have different tics through data collected from Gene Expression miRNA expression, and miRNA expression profiling can be Omnibus (GEO), The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data- used to identify the major tissue origin of the tumor.15 base and RT-PCR to determine the clinical role of miR- Previous study found that at least half of miRNAs were first 937-3p in breast cancer, and cell function analyses to expressed in gene expression profiles associated with determine the role of miR-937-3p in breast cancer cell. cancer.16 In the process of tumor formation, the dysregulation of miRNAs may lead to increased translation of oncoproteins Materials and Methods and/or tumor suppressor proteins. Abnormal expression of miRNA was found in several Clinical Tissue Specimens different tumor tissues compared with corresponding nor- A total of 20 pairs of fresh breast cancer tissue and adjacent mal tissues. A class of miRNAs is lowly expressed in normal tissue were collected from cases who underwent normal tissues and highly expressed in tumor tissues, and curative resection at the Fujian Provincial Hospital. Fresh is called a “cancerous miRNA”. For example, He et al found clinical tissue specimens were immediately snap-frozen in that miRNA-146b, miRNA-221 and miRNA-222 are abnor- liquid nitrogen for RNA extraction. All breast cancer clin- mally highly expressed in thyroid malignancies, and the ical tissue specimens were histologically diagnosed and target gene of these miRNAs is c-KIT gene that play an confirmed by clinical pathologists. Twenty serum samples important role in cell growth and differentiation.17 In con- of healthy control and 20 serum samples of breast cancer trast, another class of miRNAs that are highly expressed in patients were collected from Fujian Provincial Hospital. normal tissues and low in tumor tissues are called “cancer The Ethics Committee of the Fujian Provincial Hospital suppressor miRNAs”. A typical example of a miRNA that has approved this experimental scheme. The written plays a role in tumor suppression in the development of informed consent was obtained from all breast cancer cases. tumors is the let-7 gene.18 The specificity of miRNAs in tumors can help us distinguish between cancer cells and Cell Culture normal cells, and it can play a significant role in predicting The breast cancer cell lines MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, the efficacy of specific drugs or the prognosis of patients. HCC1954 and the non-transformed mammary epithelial Dysregulation of various microRNAs has been demon- MCF-10A cells were obtained from the ATCC (Manassas, strated in breast cancer, including miR-10b, miR-373, VA, USA). MCF-7 cells were cultured in DMEM (Invitrogen, miR-520, miR-335, miRNA-126 and miR-206, which asso- Carlsbad, CA) supplemented with 1% PS (penicillin and ciated with the development and progression of breast streptomycin) and 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS). MDA- cancer.19–23 MiR-937 has been reported to play an impor- MB-231 cells and HCC1954 cells were cultured in RPMI tant role in the development of various types of diseases, 1640 medium (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA) supplemented with including lung cancer, gastric cancer, and Alzheimer’s 1% PS and 10% FBS. MCF-10A cells were cultured in disease.24–26 However, it remains unclear whether miR- Dulbecco’s modified Eagle's medium supplemented with 1% 937-3p is involved in the development and progression of PS and 10% FBS. Cells were grown at 37°C in the presence of breast cancer. 5% CO . Previous studies reported that miR-937 has various func- 2 tions in different types of diseases, is one of the miRNAs related to diseases. miR-937 acts as a suppressive factor in Oligonucleotides and Transfection gastric cancer by downregulating Forkhead box protein L2 miR-937-3p-mimic, miR-937-3p-Mut, miR-937-3p-inhibitor, (FOXL2).25 However, it is an oncogene in lung cancer CCRL2-siRNA and their negative control were purchased cell proliferation by targeting inositol polyphosphate-4-phos- from Genepharma (Genepharma, Shang Hai, China), and phatase type II (INPP4B).24 However, the expression of transfected into MCF-7 cells using lipofectamine 2000 11046 submit your manuscript | www.dovepress.com OncoTargets and Therapy 2019:12 DovePress Dovepress Li et al (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA) according to the manufacturer’s Cell Proliferation Assay guidelines. Cells were seeded in 96-well culture plates at a density of 3000–8000 cells/well. On the following day, the cells were Western Blot exposed to various concentrations of compounds and were The cells were lysed in lysis buffer for 30 mins and cen- cultured for another 72 h. Cell proliferation was then trifuged at 4°C, 13,000 rpm for 10 mins to remove insoluble determined by sulforhodamine B (SRB) or with the Cell material. The soluble protein concentration was determined Counting Kit-8 (CCK8) assay. The absorbance was deter- by Bradford assay.