title: MicroRNA-144 inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma cell proliferation, invasion and migration by targeting ZFX.
abstract: MicroRNA 144 (miR-144), a small non-coding RNA, is frequently dysregulated in human several tumour progression, but its role and the underlying mechanisms in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is poorly investigated. In the present study, the expression of miR-144 was firstly analysed in datasets derived from GSE21362 and TCGA, and then detected in HCC tissues and cell lines by quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis. MiR-144 was shown to be significantly down-regulated in HCC tissues and cell lines. Subsequently, overexpression of miR-144 was transfected into HCC cell lines so as to investigate its biological function, including MTT, colony formation, and transwell assays. Gain of function assay revealed miR-144 remarkably inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasion. In addition, bioinformatical analysis and luciferase reporter assay identified ZFX as a novel target of miR-144 in HCC cells, as confirmed by qRT-PCR and Western blot. Furthermore, ZFX was found to be significantly up-regulated using Oncomine database analysis. Loss of function assay further indicated knockdown of ZFX had similar effects of miR-144-mediated HCC cell proliferation and invasion. Therefore, miR-144 has been demonstrated to act as a tumour suppressor in HCC cell growth and motility by directly targeting ZFX, which implicates its potential applications in the development of HCC treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Harrison International Peace Hospital, Hengshui City, Hebei province, PR of China, hongbinB_112@163.com.
authors.forename: Hongbin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bao
authors.forename: Xinguo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hengli
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hongli
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.forename: Binghui
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Xianfeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhaoming
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000235:genetics; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000235:genetics; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D056945:Hep G2 Cells; D006801:Humans; D051741:Kruppel-Like Transcription Factors / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D051741:Kruppel-Like Transcription Factors; C554293:MIRN144 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs; C062076:zinc finger protein, X-linked