MicroRNA-126 inhibits tumor cell growth and its expression level correlates with poor survival in non-small cell lung cancer patients.
BACKGROUND
It is controversial whether microRNA-126 is a tumor suppressive or oncogenic miRNA. More experiments are needed to determine whether microRNA-126 is associated with non-small cell lung cancer risk and prognosis.


METHODS
Over-expression of microRNA-126 was performed to evaluate the cell invasion and tumor growth in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines and nude mouse xenograft model. Gain-of-function experiments and luciferase assays were performed to reveal the relationship between microRNA-126 and PI3K-Akt signal pathway in A549 cells. We analyzed the associations of the microRNA-126 expression between genetic variants within microRNA-126 and clinical information including smoking status, sex, age, and histological type and the tumor stage.


RESULTS
Over-expression of microRNA-126 in NSCLC cell lines decreased cell proliferation in vitro and tumor growth in the nude mouse xenograft model. And microRNA-126 repressed the activity of PI3K-Akt pathway by targeting binding sites in the 3'-untranslated region of PI3KR2 mRNA. The expression level of microRNA-126 was decreased in NSCLC lines and tumor tissues. The patients with low microRNA-126 expression had significantly poorer survival time than those with high microRNA-126 expression (means for survival time (month): 24.392±1.055 vs. 29.282±1.140, P = 0.005). However, there was no significant difference in the genotype and allele frequencies of the microRNA-126 variant (G>A, rs4636297) between cases and controls (P = 0.366). In addition, there was no association between SNP rs4636297 and survival time in NSCLC patients (P = 0.992). And microRNA-126 expression had no significant difference among the three genotype groups (P = 0.972).


CONCLUSIONS
Our data indicate that microRNA-126 is a tumor-suppressor gene in NSCLC and low microRNA-126 expression is a unfavorable prognostic factor in NSCLC patients. However, the regulatory mechanism of microRNA-126 remains to be elucidated in different normal and malignant tissues. Therefore, further research is needed to explore the tumor suppressive functions of microRNA-126 in NSCLC.
Center for Human Molecular Biology and Genetics, Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences and Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
Jiyun
J
Yang
Haitao
H
Lan
Xiaobing
X
Huang
Baoyu
B
Liu
Yu
Y
Tong
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000235:genetics; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D010766:Phosphorylation; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000378:metabolism; D012307:Risk Factors; D015398:Signal Transduction; D023041:Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays
C527111:MIRN126 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt