Abstract
Background:
miR520a-3p has previously had its antitumorigenic role in various types of cancers revealed, and been predicted as a posttranscriptional regulator of the NFκB-subunit RELA gene. Thus, miR520a-3p could function in carcinogenesis through suppressing RELA.
Methods:
Expression of miR520a-3p and RELA mRNA was quantified in glioma and normal tissue, and the correlation between them was analyzed statistically. Also, receiver-operating characteristic (ROC)-curve analysis was performed. Effects of miR520a-3p on cell viability, colony formation, migration, and invasion wereexplored in vitro. Whether RELA was a direct target of miR520a-3p or not was analyzed. Finally, restoration of RELA on the effect of miR520a-3p overexpression on proliferation of glioblastoma cells was detected.
Results:
Data showed that miR520a-3p expression was aberrantly downregulated and associated with malignance in glioma tissue. Areas under ROC curves of miR520a-3p and RELA mRNA expression were 0.9483 and 0.5967, respectively. Also, miR520a-3p expression was statistically correlated with RELA mRNA level in grade III-IV glioma tissue. Transfection of miR520a-3p mimic significantly increased miR520a-3p expression, and resulted in significant suppression of proliferation, migration, and invasion of glioblastoma cells in vitro. miR520a-3p overexpression resulted in statistical downregulation of RELA, both in mRNA and protein levels. RELA was direct target of miR520a-3p. In addition, restoration of RELA significantly weakened the inhibitory effect of miR520a-3p overexpression on viability and EdU-labeled glioblastoma cells.
Conclusion:
These findings suggest that miR520a-3p should be helpful in auxiliary glioma diagnosis and can attenuate the proliferation and metastasis of glioblastoma through suppressing RELA, and thus could be an attractive therapeutic target to eliminate glioblastoma.
Keywords:
RELA; glioblastoma; invasion; miR520a-3p; migration; proliferation.