miR-133a inhibits cervical cancer growth by targeting EGFR

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that play critical roles in cervical carcinogenesis and progression. microRNA-133a (miR-133a) has been reported to play a tumor-suppressor role in a range of cancers. However, the role and underlying molecular mechanism of miR-133a in cervical cancer have not been investigated. In the present study, we investigated the role of miR-133a in the tumorigenicity of cervical cancer cells in vivo and in vitro. The expression of miR-133a was investigated using real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) in 30 cervical specimens and matched adjacent normal tissues and cervical cancer cell lines. We found that the expression level of miR‑133a was significantly downregulated in cervical cancer tissues and cervical cancer cell lines, and the aberrant expression of miR-133a was correlated with lymph node metastasis, histological grade and FIGO stage. The role of miR-133a in tumorigenicity of cervical cancer cells was assessed by the restoration of miR-133a. We found that restoration of miR‑133a inhibited cell proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion, promoted cell apoptosis in vitro and suppressed tumorigenicity in vivo. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) was confirmed to be a direct target of miR-133a in cervical cancer cells using luciferase assay and western blotting. Restoration of miR-133a inhibited EGFR expression and activated the AKT and ERK signaling pathways. These results showed that miR-133a suppresses cervical cancer growth in vitro and in vivo through targeting EGFR, suggesting that miR-133a can be a potential target for the treatment of cervical cancer.

Downregulation of miR‑30a is associated with proliferation and invasion via targeting MEF2D in cervical cancer

“…Accumulating studies are demonstrating that miRNAs are dysregulated in a variety of cancers and serve a critical role in tumorigenesis (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14). Recent studies demonstrated that miRNAs are critical regulators in the development and progression of cancer, including cervical cancer (15,16). Therefore, identification of novel miRNAs involved in cervical cancer progression may contribute to the development of prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic strategies for cervical cancer.…”

Down-regulation of miR-133a as a poor prognosticator in non-small cell lung cancer

“…MiR-133a inhibited cervical cancer growth by targeting EGFR in vitro and in vivo (Song et al, 2015). What's more, in ESCC tissues, the expression level of miR-133a and miR-133b were both significantly lower than normal tissue.…”

“…Several studies have demonstrated the correlations between miR133a expression and clinicopathological features in diverse human carcinomas, such as gastric cancer (Cheng et al, 2014), osteosarcoma (Mirghasemi et al, 2015b), hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) , cervical cancer (Song et al, 2015), esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) , and breast cancer (Wu et al, 2012b), little is known about miR-133a in NSCLC patients. In this study, we found miR-133a downexpression was significantly associated with N classification (P = 0.000) and clinical stages (P = 0.010) in 104 NSCLC patients.…”

MicroRNAs in gynecological cancers: Small molecules with big implications

“…This results in BIM accumulation and the inhibition of Bcl-xl. EGFR family is also targeted by tumor suppressor miRNAs, such as, miR-133a in CC [67], miR-125b in EC [92] and miR-133b in OC cells [110]. miR-15a and miR-16 regulate OC cell proliferation by targeting oncogenic Bmi-1 [168].…”