Open Access

ARTICLE

MicroRNA-148a Acts as a Tumor Suppressor in Osteosarcoma via Targeting Rho-Associated Coiled-Coil Kinase

HaiYan Yang^*†, ZhiGang Peng^†, ZhenZhen Da^*, Xin Li^‡, YeXiao Cheng^*, BinBin Tan^§, Xin Xiang^¶, HaiPing Zheng^†, Yan Li^*, LanHua Chen^*, Ning Mo^†, XueXin Yan^†, Xiaolin Li^*, XiaoHua Hu^†

* Department of Hematology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, P.R. China
† Department of Oncology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical, Nanning, Guangxi, P.R. China
‡ Department of Digestion, Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, P.R. China
§ Department of Blood Transfusion, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical, Nanning, Guangxi, P.R. China
¶ Department of Nephrology, Affiliated National Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, P.R. China

Oncology Research 2017, 25(8), 1231-1243. https://doi.org/10.3727/096504017X14850134190255

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRs) have been demonstrated to be involved in the development and progression of osteosarcoma (OS), but the molecular mechanism still remains to be fully investigated. The present study investigated the function of miR-148a in OS, as well as its underlying mechanism. Our data showed that miR-148a was significantly downregulated in OS tissues compared to their matched adjacent normal tissues, and also in OS cell lines compared to normal human osteoblast cells. Low expression of miR-148a was significantly associated with tumor progression and a poor prognosis for OS patients. Rho-associated coiled-coil kinase 1 (ROCK1) was then identified as a target of miR-148a in Saos-2 and U2OS cells, and the expression of ROCK1 was significantly increased in OS tissues and cell lines. Moreover, the protein expression of ROCK1 was markedly reduced in miR-148a-overexpressing Saos-2 and U2OS cells, but significantly increased in miR-148a-downregulated Saos-2 and U2OS cells. Further investigation indicated that miR-148a had a suppressive effect on the proliferative, migratory, and invasive capacities of Saos-2 and U2OS cells. Moreover, overexpression of ROCK1 attenuated the inhibitory effects of miR-148a upregulation on the malignant phenotypes of Saos-2 and U2OS cells. In addition, overexpression of miR-148a significantly inhibited the tumor growth of U2OS cells in nude mice. Taken together, these data demonstrate that miR-148a acts as a tumor suppressor in OS, at least partly, via targeting ROCK1. Therefore, the miR-148a/ROCK1 axis may become a potential therapeutic target for OS.

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