Open Access

ARTICLE

MicroRNA-204 Potentiates the Sensitivity of Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cells to Arsenic Trioxide

Zhiguo Wang^*†1, Zehui Fang^‡1, Runzhang Lu^†, Hongli Zhao^‡, Tiejun Gong^†, Dong Liu^†, Luojia Hong^‡, Jun Ma^†, Mei Zhang^*

* Department of Hematology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shanxi Province, P.R. China
† Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation, Harbin Hematological Cancer Institute, Harbin the First Hospital, Harbin Province, P.R. China
‡ Department of Endocrinology, the 4th Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, P.R. China

Oncology Research 2019, 27(9), 1035-1042. https://doi.org/10.3727/096504019X15528367532612

Abstract

Although arsenic trioxide (ATO) is a well-known antileukemic drug used for acute promyelocytic leukemia treatment, the development of ATO resistance is still a big challenge. We previously reported that microRNA- 204 (miR-204) was involved in the regulation of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cell apoptosis, but its role in chemoresistance is poorly understood. In the present study, we showed that miR-204 was significantly increased in AML cells after ATO treatment. Interestingly, the increased miR-204 level that was negatively correlated with ATO induced the decrease in cell viability and baculoviral inhibition of apoptosis protein repeatcontaining 6 (BIRC6) expression. Overexpression of miR-204 potentiated ATO-induced AML cell growth inhibition and apoptosis. Furthermore, miR-204 directly targets to the 3 -UTR of BIRC6. Upregulation of miR-204 decreased BIRC6 luciferase activity and expression, which subsequently enhanced the expression of p53. Restoration of BIRC6 markedly reversed the effect of miR-204 on the regulation of AML cell sensitivity to ATO. Taken together, our study demonstrates that miR-204 decreases ATO chemoresistance in AML cells at least partially via promoting BIRC6/p53-mediated apoptosis. miR-204 represents a novel target of ATO, and upregulation of miR-204 may be a useful strategy to improve the efficacy of ATO in AML treatment.

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