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miR-615-5p prevents proliferation and migration through negatively regulating serine hydromethyltransferase 2 (SHMT2) in hepatocellular carcinoma

Tumor Biology volume 37, pages 6813–6821 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

It has been reported that miR-615-5p was upregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) preventing both growth and migration. However, the underlying mechanism by which miR-615-5p played a role in HCC remains unknown. Here, in our present study, to investigate the mechanism of miR-615-5p, bioinformatic prediction and luciferase reporter assay were employed to ascertain the downstream target of miR-615-5p finding that the serine hydromethyltransferase 2 (SHMT2) was the direct downstream target. Knockdown or overexpression of miR-615-5p can lead to increasing or decreasing expression of SHMT2 in HCC cells. Besides, knockdown or overexpression of SHMT2 can suppress or promote both proliferation and migration of HCC cells, indicating that miR-615-5p can directly and negatively regulate the SHMT2 in HCC cells. In addition, to understand the clinicopathological significance of SHMT2 expression in HCC, immunohistochemistry was performed. It was found that SHMT2 expression was significantly associated with poor prognosis and TNM stage. Together, our results for the first time showed that miR-615-5p prevents proliferation and migration through negatively regulating SHMT2 in HCC.

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Acknowledgments

The present work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (NFSC no. 81373990 and 81402523).

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    Affiliations

    1. Department of Surgical Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 155 Hanzhong Road, Nanjing, 210029, China

      Xiaoyu Wu

    2. Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, the Eastern Hospital of the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510700, China., Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510700, China

      Liang Deng

    3. Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 282 Hanzhong Road, Nanjing, 210029, China

      Decai Tang, Gang Ying, Xuequan Yao & Fukun Liu

    4. Department of General Surgery, Jiangsu Cancer Hospital, The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, 42 Baiziting, Nanjing, 210009, China

      Gui Liang

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    1. Xiaoyu Wu
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    2. Liang Deng
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    3. Decai Tang
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    Correspondence to Gui Liang.

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    Xiaoyu Wu and Liang Deng contributed equally to this work.

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    Wu, X., Deng, L., Tang, D. et al. miR-615-5p prevents proliferation and migration through negatively regulating serine hydromethyltransferase 2 (SHMT2) in hepatocellular carcinoma. Tumor Biol. 37, 6813–6821 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-015-4506-8

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-015-4506-8

    Keywords

    • Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)
    • miR-615-5p
    • SHMT2
    • Proliferation
    • Migration