title: MicroRNA-212 suppresses tumor growth of human hepatocellular carcinoma by targeting FOXA1.
abstract: MicroRNA-212 (miR-212) has been reported to play oncogenic or tumor suppressive role in different human malignancies. Here, we demonstrated that the mean level of miR-212 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues was significantly lower than that in matched tumor-adjacent tissues. Similarly, the expression of miR-212 was obviously reduced in HCC cell lines as compared with a nontransformed hepatic cell line. Ectopic expression of miR-212 inhibited cell viability and proliferation, and induced apoptosis in HepG2 cells. In contrast, down-regulation of miR-212 increased cell viability and proliferation, and suppressed apoptosis in Bel-7402 cells. In vivo studies showed that miR-212 inhibited tumor growth of HCC via suppressing proliferation and inducing apoptosis. Furthermore, we confirmed that Forkhead box protein A1 (FOXA1) was a direct target of miR-212, and it abrogated the function of miR-212 in HCC. Finally, we disclosed that the aberrant expression of miR-212 and FOXA1 was evidently correlated with poor prognostic features of HCC. MiR-212, FOXA1 and their combination were valuable prognostic markers for predicting survival of HCC patients. In conclusion, miR-212 may serve as a prognostic indicator for HCC patients and exerts tumor suppressive role, at least in part, by inhibiting FOXA1.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
authors.forename: Changwei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dou
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
authors.forename: Yufeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
authors.forename: Zhikui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
authors.forename: Yuli
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
authors.forename: Yingmin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
authors.forename: Qingguang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
authors.forename: Kangsheng
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D015536:Down-Regulation / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D051541:Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 3-alpha / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: C496499:FOXA1 protein, human; D051541:Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 3-alpha; C551411:MIRN212 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: FOXA1; MiR-212; apoptosis; hepatocellular carcinoma; proliferation