Effect of microRNA-7 on proliferation, invasion, migration and EMT of hepatoma cell line SMMC-7721

Z.-Y. Zhang, Y.-P. Zheng, K.-S. Dong, H.-H. Dong

Department of Hepatic Surgery, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, P.R. China. donghanhua@hust.edu.cn

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• Oncology

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to observe the effect of microRNA-7 on the proliferation and migration of human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line SMMC-7721 and its effect on epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT).

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eukaryotic expression vector pcDNA3.1(-)-pri-miR-7(p-miR-7) was used to instantaneously transfect human liver cancer cells of SMMC-7721 cells in vitro. The expression of microRNA-7 was detected by RT-qPCR. Western blot was used to detect the expression of EMT marker proteins E-cadherin, β-catenin, N-cadherin and Vimentin. The proliferation of SMMC-7721 cells was detected by CCK-8 assay, and the invasion and migration ability of cells was detected by transwell assay.

RESULTS: Compared with the normal group, the expressions of E-cadherin and β-catenin in SMMC-7721 cells transfected with miR-7 were significantly increased (p<0.05), while the expressions of N-cadherin and Vimentin were significantly decreased (p<0.05). Meanwhile, the proliferation, invasion and migration ability of the cells were significantly weakened (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: The miR-7 can inhibit the proliferation and invasion of human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line SMMC-7721, and its mechanism may be related to upregulation of E-cadherin, β-catenin protein, and downregulation of N-cadherin and Vimentin proteins.

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