title: MicroRNA-7 inhibits the growth of human non-small cell lung cancer A549 cells through targeting BCL-2.
abstract: MicroRNAs(miRNAs) are emerging as important regulators in tumorigenesis. Increasing evidences have indicated microRNA-7(miR-7) to be a potential tumor suppressor in several human cancers. However, only a limited number of target genes have been identified so far and its biological function in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) remains to be further elucidated. In the present study, we observed a reduction of miR-7 level in NSCLC cell lines. Overexpression of miR-7 not only suppressed NSCLC A549 cells proliferation, induced cell apoptosis and inhibited cell migration in vitro, but also reduced tumorigenicity in vivo. Bioinformatics predictions revealed a potential binding site of miR-7 on 3'UTR of BCL-2 and it was further confirmed by luciferase assay. Moreover, subsequent experiments showed that BCL-2 was downregulated by miR-7 at both transcriptional and translational levels. These results suggest that miR-7 regulates the expression of BCL-2 through direct 3'UTR interactions. Therefore, we postulate BCL-2 to be a novel target possibly involved in miR-7-mediated growth suppression and apoptosis of A549 cells. These findings may provide a basic rationale for the use of miR-7 in the treatment of NSCLC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Shanghai Medical College, Key Laboratory of Molecular Medicine of Ministry of Education, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Shudao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.forename: Yijie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Pei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Ronghua
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xiaoming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yiwei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chu
mesh_terms: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics; D001665:Binding Sites; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002465:Cell Movement; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D015536:Down-Regulation; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D019254:Genes, bcl-2; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D035683:MicroRNAs; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; C549242:MIRN7-1 microRNA, human