Open AccessHsa-microRNA-101 suppresses migration and invasion by targeting Rac1 in thyroid cancer cells
Author(s) -
Chenghai Wang,
Sijia Lü,
Jixin Jiang,
Jia Xing,
Xiaoyun Dong,
Ping Bu
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
oncology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.766
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1792-1082
pISSN - 1792-1074
DOI - 10.3892/ol.2014.2361
Subject(s) - cancer research , microrna , thyroid cancer , biology , oncogene , rac1 , carcinogenesis , gene knockdown , cancer , small hairpin rna , cell migration , cancer stem cell , papillary thyroid cancer , anaplastic thyroid cancer , cancer cell , thyroid carcinoma , cell cycle , cell , cell culture , thyroid , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , endocrinology , genetics , signal transduction
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are 22- to 25-nucleotide non-coding RNA molecules that function as negative regulators of gene expression. In previous years, increasing evidence has arisen implicating the involvement of miRNAs in carcinogenesis. In previous studies, the role of miRNA-101 (miR-101) in tumors has been identified as a tumor suppressor and, until now, the role of miR-101 and Rac1 in thyroid cancer has remained undefined. This study revealed that miR-101 is significantly downregulated in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) tissue and thyroid cancer cell lines, and that the downregulated miR-101 is associated with lymph node metastasis. Infection with the miR-101 murine stem cell virus may markedly inhibit cell migration and invasion in TPC-1 and HTH83 thyroid cancer cell lines. Rac1 was demonstrated to be negatively regulated by miR-101 at the post-transcriptional level, via a specific target site within the 3' untranslated region by dual-luciferase reporter assay. The expression of Rac1 was also observed to inversely correlate with miR-101 expression in PTC tissues; knockdown of Rac1 by shRNA inhibited thyroid cancer cell migration and invasion, resembling that of miR-101 overexpression. Thus, these findings suggested that miR-101 acts as a novel suppressor by targeting the Rac1 gene and inhibiting thyroid cancer cell migration and invasion.