MicroRNA-33a-5p suppresses esophageal squamous cell carcinoma progression via regulation of lncRNA DANCR and ZEB1

• Published in: European journal of pharmacology Vol. 861; p. 172590
• Main Authors: Zhang, Chunyan, Wang, Lingxu, Yang, Juanjuan, Fu, Yin, Li, Hongzhi, Xie, Linsen, Cui, Yuanbo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 15.10.2019
• Subjects: Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Proliferation - genetics; DANCR; Disease Progression; Down-Regulation - genetics; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition - genetics; Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma - diagnosis; Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma - genetics; Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma - pathology; Female; Humans; lncRNA; Male; MicroRNAs - genetics; Middle Aged; miR-33a-5p; Neoplasm Metastasis; Prognosis; RNA, Long Noncoding - genetics; ZEB1; Zinc Finger E-box-Binding Homeobox 1 - genetics; Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; lncRNA; ZEB1; miR-33a-5p; DANCR
• ISSN: 0014-2999; 1879-0712
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejphar.2019.172590

Increasing evidence displays that microRNAs (miRNAs) participate in the development of various human malignancies, including esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). MicroRNA-33a-5p (miR-33a-5p) has recently been reported to function as a tumor suppressor in many human cancers. However, the expression and role of miR-33a-5p in ESCC remains largely unknown. Herein, we discovered that miR-33a-5p was down-regulated in both ESCC tissues and cell lines, compared with their normal counterparts, and decreased expression of miR-33a-5p was found to be closely associated with poor patient prognosis of ESCC. Moreover, functional experiments revealed that up-regulation of miR-33a-5p inhibited cell proliferation and metastasis of ESCC cells. In addition, the expression level of miR-33a-5p was found to be negatively correlated with the long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) differentiation antagonizing non-protein coding RNA (DANCR), in both ESCC tissues and cell lines. Furthermore, zinc-finger-enhancer binding protein 1 (ZEB1) was predicted and confirmed to be a direct target of miR-33a-5p in ESCC. Further mechanistic investigation indicated that DANCR may function as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) to sponge miR-33a-5p, and thereby up-regulate ZEB1 expression in ESCC. This study highlights the functions of miR-33a-5p in the progression of ESCC and suggests that the DANCR/miR-33a-5p/ZEB1 axis may be a potential prognostic and therapeutic target.