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MiR-492 contributes to cell proliferation and cell cycle of human breast cancer cells by suppressing SOX7 expression

Tumor Biology volume 36, pages 1913–1921 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as important regulators that potentially play critical roles in cancer cell biological processes. Previous studies have shown that miR-492 plays an important role in cell tumorigenesis in multiple kinds of human cancer cells. However, the underlying mechanisms of this microRNA in breast cancer remain largely unknown. In the present study, we investigated miR-492’s role in cell proliferation of breast cancer. MiR-492 expression was markedly upregulated in breast cancer tissues and breast cancer cells. Overexpression of miR-492 promoted the proliferation and anchorage-independent growth of breast cancer cells. Bioinformatics analysis further revealed sex-determining region Y-box 7 (SOX7), a putative tumor suppressor, as a potential target of miR-492. Data from luciferase reporter assays showed that miR-492 directly binds to the 3′-untranslated region (3′-UTR) of SOX7 messenger RNA (mRNA) and repressed expression at both transcriptional and translational levels. Ectopic expression of miR-492 led to downregulation of SOX7 protein, which resulted in the upregulation of cyclin D1 and c-Myc. In functional assays, SOX7 silenced in miR-492-in-transfected ZR-75-30 cells has positive effect to promote cell proliferation, suggesting that direct SOX7 downregulation is required for miR-492-induced cell proliferation and cell cycle of breast cancer. In sum, these results suggest that miR-492 represents a potential onco-miR and participates in breast cancer carcinogenesis by suppressing SOX7 expression.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Department of General Surgery, Guangzhou First People’s Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University. The study was supported by the Guangdong Provincial Science & Technology Projects (2013B021800041). All the authors designed the study together, performed the experiment together, analyzed the data, and wrote the paper; all the authors approved the final manuscript.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of General Surgery, Guangzhou First People’s Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, 1 Panfu Road, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, 510180, People’s Republic of China

    Fei Shen, Wen-Song Cai, Zhe Feng, Jiang-Lin Li, Ji-Wei Chen, Jie Cao & Bo Xu

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  1. Fei Shen
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  2. Wen-Song Cai
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  3. Zhe Feng
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  6. Jie Cao
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  7. Bo Xu
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Correspondence to Jie Cao or Bo Xu.

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Shen, F., Cai, WS., Feng, Z. et al. MiR-492 contributes to cell proliferation and cell cycle of human breast cancer cells by suppressing SOX7 expression. Tumor Biol. 36, 1913–1921 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-014-2794-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-014-2794-z

Keywords

  • MiR-492
  • Breast cancer
  • SOX7
  • Cell proliferation
  • Cell cycle