miR-141-3p promotes proliferation and metastasis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma by targeting NME1

• Published in: Advances in medical sciences 2020-09, Vol.65 (2), p.252-258
• Main Authors: Li, Manyi, Huang, Haiping, Cheng, Fuwei, Hu, Xiaoqing, Liu, Jisheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Metastasis; miR-141-3p; NME1; NPC; Proliferation
• ISSN: 1896-1126; 1898-4002
• DOI: 10.1016/j.advms.2020.03.005

This study aimed to investigate the expression and biological function of miR-141-3p in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) via targeting neoplasm metastasis 1 (NME1). The expression of miR-141-3p and NME1 in 5-8F, C666-1, CNE-1, CNE-2, 6-10B and NP69 nasopharyngeal epithelial cells were detected using real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (real-time PCR) and western blot, respectively. Cell proliferation was detected using Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8), and the metastasis was detected using Transwell. The binding of miR-141-3p to NME1 was detected by dual luciferase reporter gene detection system. The effects of miR-141-3p on tumor growth were also determined in vivo. The results showed that the expression of miR-141-3p significantly increased in various tumor cell lines and the expression of NME1 was higher in NP69 cells and lower in 5-8F cells, which had significant negative correlation. Furthermore, the expression of NME1 was significantly reduced after transfection of miR-141-3p and miR-141-3p promoted cell proliferation and metastasis. The double luciferase reporter gene detection system confirmed that NME1 was the target gene of miR-141-3p. Knockout of NME1 promoted the proliferation and metastasis of NP69 or 6-10B cells and the activation of p-Akt, which were abrogated by miR-141-3p. In vivo, the tumor volumes and weights in the miR-141-3p group significantly increased followed by down-regulation of NME1 and activation of p-Akt. We confirmed that miR-141-3p promotes the proliferation and metastasis of NPC by targeting NME1.