title: miR-339-3p inhibits proliferation and metastasis of colorectal cancer.
abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) serve important roles in regulating cancer cell proliferation and metastasis. The same hairpin RNA structure may produce mature products from each strand, termed miR-5p and miR-3p, which can bind different mRNAs. Previously, the present authors reported that miR-339-5p could inhibit cell proliferation and migration by targeting the 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) of PRL-1 mRNA. The present study analyzed the expression, function and preliminary regulatory mechanism of miR-339-3p in colorectal cancer (CRC). The results of reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis demonstrated that miR-339-3p is downregulated in CRC specimens and highly invasive cell lines. Furthermore, the low-level expression of miR-339-3p was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis in patients with CRC; however, reduced miR-339-3p expression was not associated with age, gender or the differentiation status of the tumor. Overexpression of miR-339-3p was sufficient to suppress tumor growth and metastasisin vitro. In addition, the present study demonstrated that unlike miR-339-5p, PRL-1 expression was not regulated by miR-339-3p. The findings of the present study indicate that miR-339-5p and miR-339-3p may target different mRNA. The target gene of miR-339-3p requires future identification.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Histology, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510006, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Chang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yenxia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xuenong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: colorectal cancer; metastasis; miR-339-3p; proliferation