title: miR-218 suppresses tumor growth and enhances the chemosensitivity of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma to cisplatin.
abstract: A growing body of evidence suggests that microRNA-218 (miR-218) acts as a tumor suppressor and is involved in tumor progression, development and metastasis and confers sensitivity to certain chemotherapeutic drugs in several types of cancer. However, our knowledge concerning the exact roles played by miR-218 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and the underlying molecular mechanisms remain relatively unclear. Thus, the aims of this study were to detect the expression of miR-218 in human ESCC tissues and explore its effects on the biological features and chemosensitivity to cisplatin (CDDP) in an ESCC cell line (Eca109), so as to provide new insights for ESCC treatment. Here, we found increased expression of miR-218 in the ESCC tissues compared with that in the matched non-tumor tissues, and its expression level was correlated with key pathological characteristics including clinical stage, tumor depth and metastasis. We also found that enforced expression of miR-218 significantly decreased cell proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion, induced cell apoptosis and arrested the cell cycle in the G0/G1 phase, as well as suppressed tumor growth in a nude mouse model. In addition, our results showed that miR-218 mimics increased the sensitivity to the antitumor effect of CDDP in the human Eca109 cells. Importantly, this study also showed that miR-218 regulated the expression of phosphorylated PI3K, AKT and mTOR, which may contribute to suppressed tumor growth of ESCC and enhanced sensitivity of ESCC cells. These findings suggest that miR-218 is a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of ESCC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510623, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Hang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Shanxi Cancer Hospital, Taiyuan, Shanxi 030013, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Emergency, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510623, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yu-Mei
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510623, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jun-Xiang
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510623, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ying-Jun
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: She
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510623, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Bao
authors.initials: XB
authors.lastname: Bi
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510623, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xing-Rong
authors.initials: XR
authors.lastname: Song
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics*; D002453:Cell Cycle; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002465:Cell Movement; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000737:chemistry*; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D000077277:Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D010766:Phosphorylation; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: C547471:MIRN218 microRNA, human; C547684:MIRN218 microRNA, mouse; D035683:MicroRNAs; D002945:Cisplatin