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miR-155 regulates the proliferation and cell cycle of colorectal carcinoma cells by targeting E2F2

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Abstract

MicroRNAs play important roles in carcinogenesis by negatively regulating the expression of target genes. Here we explore the biological function of miR-155 and the underlying mechanism in colorectal carcinoma. We validate, for the first time, that E2F2 is a direct target of miR-155 using western blot and a luciferase reporter assay and that miR-155 regulates the proliferation and cell cycle of colorectal carcinoma cells by targeting E2F2 using siRNA technology. We also found, for the first, time that E2F2 acts as a tumor suppressor in colorectal carcinoma. Overall, miR-155 plays an important role in colorectal carcinoma tumorigenesis by negative regulation of its targets including E2F2 and may be a potential therapeutic target for colorectal carcinoma treatment.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81372331). We thank Drs. Yihua Ma, Meijuan Xie and Yan Wang for helpful comments on the manuscript and all members of the Tao Xi laboratory for helpful discussion.

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Correspondence to Tao Xi.

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Li, T., Yang, J., Lv, X. et al. miR-155 regulates the proliferation and cell cycle of colorectal carcinoma cells by targeting E2F2. Biotechnol Lett 36, 1743–1752 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-014-1540-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-014-1540-3

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