title: MicroRNA-378-5p suppresses cell proliferation and induces apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells by targeting BRAF.
abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a group of small non-coding RNA molecules that potentially play a critical role in tumorigenesis. Increasing evidences indicate that miR-378-5p is dysregulated in numerous human cancers including colorectal cancer (CRC) which hypothesizes that miR-378-5p may play an important role in tumorigenesis. However, its role in CRC carcinogenesis remains poorly defined because of lacking target genes information. In the present study, it was demonstrated that the expression of miR-378-5p was down-regulated in CRC tissues and cell lines as determined by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Furthermore, overexpression of miR-378-5p suppressed cell proliferation, as indicated by CCK-8 assay. Flow cytometric analysis demonstrated that overexpression of miR-378-5p induced cell cycle arrest and promoted apoptosis in CRC cells. A luciferase reporter assay indicated that BRAF was a direct target of miR-378-5p. Western blot and qRT-PCR analysis indicated that BRAF was significantly down-regulated by miR-378-5p in CRC cells. Moreover, miR-378-5p was negatively associated with BRAF in CRC tissues compared to adjacent non-tumor tissues. These results demonstrate that down-regulation of miR-378-5p promotes CRC cells growth by targeting BRAF and restoration of their levels is a potentially promising therapeutic in CRC.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Rui Jin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 197 Rui Jin Er Road, Shanghai, 200025 P R China.
authors.forename: Zhenlei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Spine, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200120 P R China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Rui Jin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 197 Rui Jin Er Road, Shanghai, 200025 P R China.
authors.forename: Xiaopin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Rui Jin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 197 Rui Jin Er Road, Shanghai, 200025 P R China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Rui Jin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 197 Rui Jin Er Road, Shanghai, 200025 P R China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Rui Jin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 197 Rui Jin Er Road, Shanghai, 200025 P R China.
authors.forename: Xiaojian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Rui Jin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 197 Rui Jin Er Road, Shanghai, 200025 P R China.
authors.forename: Haoji
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Rui Jin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 197 Rui Jin Er Road, Shanghai, 200025 P R China.
authors.forename: Hanxing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Rui Jin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 197 Rui Jin Er Road, Shanghai, 200025 P R China.
authors.forename: Haoxuan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Rui Jin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 197 Rui Jin Er Road, Shanghai, 200025 P R China.
authors.forename: Xianze
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Rui Jin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 197 Rui Jin Er Road, Shanghai, 200025 P R China.
authors.forename: Ren
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhao
keywords: Apoptosis; BRAF; Colorectal cancer; Proliferation; miR-378-5p