title: miR-128 downregulation promotes growth and metastasis of bladder cancer cells and involves VEGF-C upregulation.
abstract: MicroRNA-128 (miR-128) serves an important role in regulating growth, invasiveness, stem cell-like traits, differentiation and apoptosis of different types of tumor cells. Vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) has been associated with angiogenesis, lymphangiogenesis and regional lymph node metastasis and has previously been reported to have an anti-apoptotic and proliferative role in bladder cancer (BC). To investigate the regulation of miR-128 on VEGF-C expression and their effects on proliferation and metastasis of bladder cancer, T24 and 5637 BC cells were transfected with pre-miR-128, anti-miR-128 and their respective negative control. miR-128 was downregulated in BC tissues and cell lines, while the expression levels of VEGF-C were upregulated. The present results indicated that miR-128 negatively regulated VEGF-C expression in BC T24 and 5637 BC cells. VEGF-C is a direct target of miR-128 in BC cells. Overexpression of miR-128 inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Knockdown of miR-128 promoted proliferation, migration and invasion in BC cells. Therefore, downregulation mediated malignant progression of BC may be partly attributed to increased VEGF-C expression. Consequently, the findings of the present study provide a molecular basis for the role of miR-128/VEGF-C in the progression of human BC and indicate a novel target for treatment of BC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 430121, P.R. China.
authors.forename: X U
authors.initials: XU
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 430121, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 430121, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shiyu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 430121, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Y U
authors.initials: YU
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 430121, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jinbo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 430121, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Tianxiang
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 430121, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 430121, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiong-Bing
authors.initials: XB
authors.lastname: Zu
keywords: bladder cancer; metastasis; miR-128; vascular endothelial growth factor-C