Open Access

ARTICLE

miR-218 Inhibits Proliferation, Migration, and EMT of Gastric Cancer Cells by Targeting WASF3

Guojun Wang, Yang Fu, Guanghui Liu, Yanwei Ye, Xiefu Zhang

Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, P.R. China

Oncology Research 2017, 25(3), 355-364. https://doi.org/10.3727/096504016X14738114257367

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in carcinogenesis. miR-218 is one of the most known miRNAs and has been demonstrated to inhibit progression in gastric cancer. However, the underlying molecular mechanism is not established. In this study, qRT-PCR and Western blot indicated that miR-218 was downregulated in gastric cancer cell lines SGC7901 and BGC823 compared to that in normal gastric epithelial cell line GES-1. MTT and wound scratch assays suggested that overexpression of miR-218 markedly suppressed cell proliferation, migration, and EMT of gastric cancer cells. Furthermore, we proved that WASF3 was a direct target of miR-218 by luciferase reporter assay, and restoration of WASF3 expression impairs miR-218-induced inhibition of proliferation, migration, and EMT in gastric cancer cells SGC7901. In summary, our results demonstrated that miR-218 functions as one of the tumor-suppressive miRNAs and inhibits gastric cancer tumorigenesis by targeting WASF3. miR-218 may serve as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of gastric cancer.

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