miR-148a Promoted Cell Proliferation by Targeting p27 in Gastric Cancer Cells

• Main Author: Shui-Long Guo, Zheng Peng, Xue Yang, Kai-Ji Fan, Hui Ye, Zhen-Hua Li, Yan Wang, Xiao-Li Xu, Jun Li, You-Liang Wang, Yan Teng, Xiao Yang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ivyspring International Publisher 2011-01-01
• Series: International Journal of Biological Sciences
• Online Access: http://www.biolsci.org/v07p0567.htm

<p>Accumulating evidence has shown that miRNAs are aberrantly expressed in human gastric cancer and crucial to tumorigenesis. Herein, we identified the role of miR-148a in gastric cell proliferation. miR-148a knockdown inhibited cell proliferation in gastric cancer cell lines. Conversely, miR-148a overexpression promoted cell proliferation and cell cycle progression. p27, a key inhibitor of cell cycle, was verified as the target of miR-148a, indicating miR-148a might downregulate p27 expression to promote gastric cell proliferation. Moreover, we confirmed that miR-148a expression was frequently and dramatically downregulated in human advanced gastric cancer tissues, and observed a good inverse correlation between miR-148a and p27 expression in tumor samples. Thus, our results demonstrated that miR-148a downregulation might exert some sort of antagonistic function in cell proliferation, rather than promote cell proliferation in gastric cancer.</p>