title: Inhibition of microRNA-181a may suppress proliferation and invasion and promote apoptosis of cervical cancer cells through the PTEN/Akt/FOXO1 pathway.
abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous, non-coding, small RNAs, which play a critical role in regulating varieties of the biological and pathologic processes. miR-181a has been reported to participate in tumorigenic progression. However, the roles of miR-181a in cervical cancer (CC) are still unknown. The aim of this research was to explore the effects and molecular mechanism of miR-181a in CC cells. In this paper, the levels of miR-181a in CC cell lines were determined by real-time PCR. We found that the levels of miR-181a were evidently enhanced in CC cell lines compared with normal cervical epithelium cells. Then, the miR-181a inhibitor was transiently transfected into HeLa and CaSKi cells using Lipofectamine 2000 reagent. Subsequently, the Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and BrdU-ELISA results showed that down-regulation of miR-181a inhibited the cell viability and proliferation. Our data also demonstrated that miR-181a inhibitor arrested cell cycle progression of HeLa and CaSKi cells by up-regulation of p21 and p27 expressions. In addition, inhibition of miR-181a promoted apoptosis of HeLa and CaSKi cells due to increasing Bax expression and decreasing Bcl-2 expression. Ultimately, the effect of miR-181a inhibitor on the PTEN/Akt/FOXO1 signaling pathway was investigated by Western blot. From our results, down-regulation of miR-181a increased the expression of PTEN and decreased phosphorylation of Akt and FOXO1. Altogether, miR-181a might be an oncogene in CC cells. The potential mechanism was that inhibition of miR-181a might suppress proliferation and invasion and promote apoptosis of HeLa and CaSKi cells by modulating the PTEN/Akt/FOXO1 signaling pathway.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics, the First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, China.
authors.forename: Hongmei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Section I, Department of General Gynecology, the First Hospital of Jilin University, No. 71, Xinmin Street, Changchun, 130021, China.
authors.forename: Jihong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Reproductive Center, the First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, China.
authors.forename: Cong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Qianwei Hospital of Jilin Province, Changchun, 130012, China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Section I, Department of General Gynecology, the First Hospital of Jilin University, No. 71, Xinmin Street, Changchun, 130021, China. yyl_med@126.com.
authors.forename: Yiyang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000235:genetics; D002460:Cell Line; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002465:Cell Movement; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002584:Cervix Uteri / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D050759:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p21 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D050760:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p27 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D000071161:Forkhead Box Protein O1 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D009843:Oligoribonucleotides / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051059:PTEN Phosphohydrolase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C494826:BAX protein, human; C000595707:BCL2 protein, human; D050759:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p21; C085126:FOXO1 protein, human; D000071161:Forkhead Box Protein O1; C540193:MIrn181 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs; D009843:Oligoribonucleotides; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein; D050760:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p27; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D051059:PTEN Phosphohydrolase; C494929:PTEN protein, human
keywords: Apoptosis; Cervical cancer; Invasion; MicroRNA-181a; PTEN/Akt/FOXO1 signaling pathway