miR-378 associated with proliferation, migration and apoptosis properties in A549 cells and targeted NPNT in COPD

Abstract

Background microRNAs contribute to the development and progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, the underlying molecular mechanisms are largely unclear. The goal of this study was to investigate the roles of miR-378 in alveolar epithelial type II cells and identify molecular mechanisms which contribute to the pathogenesis of COPD. Materials and methods Human alveolar epithelial (A549) cells were cultured in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium. Cell proliferation was studied by using a cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and colony formation assays. Cell apoptosis and cell cycle were analyzed by flow cytometry and wound healing and Transwell were used to analyze the cell migration and. We performed bioinformatics analysis including target gene prediction, gene ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genome (KEGG) pathway enrichment and construction of protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. The expression of miR-378 and NPNT from publically available expression microarray of COPD lung tissues was analyzed. Results Overexpression of miR-378 significantly increases cell proliferation, migration, and suppress apoptosis. GO analysis demonstrated that the miR-378 involved in transcription, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor signaling pathway, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase signaling, cell migration, blood coagulation, cell shape, protein stabilization and phosphorylation. Pathway enrichment showed that the 1,629 target genes of miR-378 were associated with mTOR, ErbB, TGF-β, MAPK, and FoxO signaling pathways. Notably, miR-378 directly targets Nephronectin in A549 cells, and miR-378 was upregulated while NPNT was downregulated in COPD lung tissue samples. Conclusions These findings suggest that miR-378 can regulate the proliferation, migration, and apoptosis of A549 cells and target NPNT. miR-378 increased in COPD lung tissues while NPNT decreased, and might prove a potential target for novel drug therapy.

Real-time in situ fluorescence imaging of telomerase and miR378 in living cells using a two-color DNA tetrahedron nanoprobe combined with molecular beacons

“…It has been reported that telomerase is overexpressed in 85–90% of cancer cells, whereas HeLa cells have high expression of miR378, 36 and miR378 is overexpressed in non-small cell lung cancer. 29 However, in MDA-MB-231 cells, as the invasion and migration increased, miR-378 was virtually absent. 37 The results showed that DTP could enter cancer cells to detect the different expressions levels of miR378 and telomerase in cells.…”

“…It has been reported that miR378 is upregulated in cervical cancer tissues and A549 cells, which significantly promotes the proliferation and migration of cancer cells and inhibits cell apoptosis, so it plays an important role in the pathogenesis of cervical cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. 28,29 Therefore, telomerase was selected as a broad-spectrum tumor marker, combined with disease-specific tumor marker miR378 to ensure the accurate diagnosis of cancers.…”