Background
A growing number of microRNAs have been proved to play significant roles in limiting tumor growth and the epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT) process of nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Present work aims to study the function of microRNA (miR)‐105 in EMT of NSCLC cells, which is unrevealed yet.
Methods
Two NSCLC cell lines A549 and Calu‐3 were transfected with miR‐105 mimic, inhibitor, or scrambled control. And then the effects of miR‐105 were evaluated by performing trypan blue staining, transwell assay, ANNEXIN‐FITC/propidium iodide (PI) double staining and Western blot analysis. The expression levels of myeloid cell leukemia‐1 (Mcl‐1) after transfection were tested by real‐time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis. Whether Mcl‐1 was a downstream effector of miR‐105, and the involvement of mammalian target of Rapamycin (mTOR) and p38 mitogen‐activated protein kinase (p38MAPK) signaling pathways were assessed.
Results
The overexpression of miR‐105 significantly increased the viability and migration of A549 and Calu‐3, but had no impacts on cell apoptosis. Meanwhile, E‐cadherin was remarkably downregulated, and N‐cadherin, Vimentin, ZEB1, and Snail were upregulated by miR‐105 overexpression. Mcl‐1 was positively regulated by miR‐105, and the effects of miR‐105 overexpression on A549 and Calu‐3 cells viability, migration and EMT were all flattened by Mcl‐1 silence. Both mTOR and p38MAPK pathways were activated in miR‐105‐overexpressing and Mcl‐1‐overexpressing cells. Besides, inhibition of mTOR and p38MAPK pathways by using Rapamycin and VX‐702 abolished the regulatory effects of Mcl‐1 on EMT.
Conclusion
Our study underlines the importance of miR‐105 in modulating NSCLC cells EMT. miR‐105 promoted the EMT of NSCLC cells possibly via upregulation of Mcl‐1 and thereby activation of mTOR and p38MAPK signaling.