Open Access

ARTICLE

MicroRNA-200a Suppresses Cell Invasion and Migration by Directly Targeting GAB1 in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Jianlin Wang^*1, Wenjie Song^*1, Weiwei Shen^†1, Xisheng Yang^*, Wei Sun^*, Sshibin Qu^*, Runze Shang^*, Ben Ma^*, Meng Pu^*, Kaishan Tao^*, Kefeng Dou^*, Haimin Li^*

* Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, P.R. China
† Department of Oncology, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, P.R. China

Oncology Research 2017, 25(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.3727/096504016X14685034103798

Abstract

MicroRNA-200a (miR-200a) is frequently downregulated in most cancer types and plays an important role in carcinogenesis and cancer progression. In this study, we determined that miR-200a was downregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues and cell lines, consistent with the results of our previous study. Because a previous study suggested that downregulation of miR-200a is correlated with HCC metastasis, we aimed to elucidate the mechanism underlying the role of miR-200a in metastasis in HCC. Here we observed that overexpression of miR-200a resulted in suppression of HCC metastatic ability, including HCC cell migration, invasion, and metastasis, in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, bioinformatics and luciferase reporter assays indicated that GAB1 is a direct target of miR-200a. Inhibition of GAB1 resulted in substantially decreased cell invasion and migration similar to that observed with overexpression of miR-200a in HCC cell lines, whereas restoration of GAB1 partially rescued the inhibitory effects of miR-200a. Taken together, these data provide novel information for comprehending the tumor-suppressive role of miR-200a in HCC pathogenesis through inhibition of GAB1 translation.

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