title: [Expression of miR-146a in colon cancer and its significance].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate miR-146a expression in colonic cancer and its clinical implications.
  
  
  METHODS
  Quantitative real-time PCR was employed to detect the levels of miR-146a expression in colonic cancer tissues, pair-matched adjacent normal tissues and different colonic cancer cell lines. MTT essay was used to evaluate the proliferation of colonic cancer SW260 cells transfected with miR-146a mimics, and the cell cycle and apoptosis of the cells were analyzed with flow cytometry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with the normal tissues, 38 of the 43 colonic cancer samples showed down-regulated miR-146a expression, which was associated with poor tumor differentiation. The expression of miR-146a in the tumor tissues was significantly correlated with tumor size and clinical stages. The patients with high miR-146a expression levels had significantly longer total survival time than those with low expression of miR-146a. In SW260 cell cultures, transfection with miR-146a mimics significantly inhibited cell growth (P<0.05) and increased the cell apoptosis rate (11.9% vs 5.9%) but produced no obvious effect on cell cycle.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  miR-146a may serve as a potential therapeutic target for colonic cancer for its role in inhibiting colonic cancer cell proliferation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Provincial Clinical College, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350001, China. E-mail: zcqazjt615@163.com.
authors.forename: Changqing
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Liangxiang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Haixiao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Linhao
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Liangjie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chi
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: C542542:MIRN146 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs