title: MicroRNA-138 inhibits proliferation, migration and invasion through targeting hTERT in cervical cancer.
abstract: A growing body of evidence suggests that microRNA-138 (miR-138) functions as a tumor suppressor, and is involved in tumor initiation, development and metastasis in certain types of human cancers. However, the function and underlying molecular mechanism of miR-138 in cervical cancer remains unclear. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the clinical significance of miR-138 expression in cervical cancer, and to evaluate its role and underlying mechanisms in cervical cancer. The present study indicated that miR-138 expression was significantly downregulated in cervical cancer tissues and cell lines, and that the low miR-138 expression was negatively associated with advanced FIGO stage and lymph node metastasis (P<0.01). Functional analyses indicated that the overexpression of miR-138 in cervical cancer cells inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasion, induced cell apoptosisin vitro, and suppressed tumor growth in a nude mice model. Luciferase reporter assays confirmed that human telomerase reverse transcriptase was a novel target gene of miR-138. The findings of the present study suggested that miR-138 could be a potential candidate for cervical cancer therapeutics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130021, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasonography, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130033, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fei
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130021, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zong
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130021, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Mingyue
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130021, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yue
keywords: cervical cancer; human telomerase reverse transcriptase; microRNA-138; microRNAs