miR-214 Modulates the Growth and Migration of Oral Cancer before and after Chemotherapy through Mediating ULK1

• Published in: Journal of Immunology Research Vol. 2022; pp. 4589182 - 8
• Main Authors: Yang, Yongtao, Sun, Xiaolan, Li, Minghua, Li, Limei, Wang, Shanshan, Zhu, Yaomin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Egypt Hindawi 02.06.2022; Hindawi Limited; Wiley
• Subjects: Antitumor activity; Apoptosis; Apoptosis - genetics; Autophagy; Autophagy - genetics; Autophagy-Related Protein-1 Homolog - genetics; Autophagy-Related Protein-1 Homolog - metabolism; Cancer; Cancer therapies; Carcinogenesis; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - drug therapy; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - genetics; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Proliferation; Chemotherapy; Development and progression; Drug resistance; Epithelial cells; Experiments; Growth; Humans; Immunology; Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins - genetics; MicroRNA; MicroRNAs; MicroRNAs - genetics; MicroRNAs - metabolism; Mouth cancer; Mouth Neoplasms - drug therapy; Mouth Neoplasms - genetics; Oral cancer; p53 Protein; Squamous cell carcinoma; Therapeutic targets; Tongue Neoplasms - drug therapy; Tongue Neoplasms - genetics; TOR protein; Transfection; Tumor proteins; China; United States > US
• ISSN: 2314-8861; 2314-7156
• DOI: 10.1155/2022/4589182

The role of miRNAs as crucial components in carcinogenesis has been well documented. However, whether and how miR-214 influences oral cancer cells’ drug resistance remains to be elucidated, and its downstream targets are still under investigation. Hence, this research is aimed at determining miR-214 and ULK1 expression in oral cancer before and after chemotherapy and their correlations with cancer cell growth. Human oral normal epithelial cells and human tongue squamous cell carcinoma CAL-27 cells were cultured to detect miR-214 and ULK1 levels. It was found that before chemotherapy, miR-214 was higher, while ULK1 was underexpressed in CAL-27 cells, versus normal epithelial cells. After chemotherapy, miR-214 decreased obviously in CAL-27 cells, while ULK1 level increased significantly. In addition, autophagy-related genes (Beclin 1, mTOR, and P53) in CAL-27 cells were found to be significantly inhibited before chemotherapy and were obviously increased after chemotherapy. Moreover, to further determine the impacts of miR-214 and ULK1 on oral cancer cell growth after chemotherapy, the two were overexpressed or silenced in CAL-27 cells after transfection. We found that ULK1 could effectively decrease the activity and invasion of CAL-27 cells and increase their apoptosis level, while miR-214 could antagonize its antitumor effect. Therefore, miR-214 can be used as an early prognostic biomarker for oral cancer, and ULK1 is a new candidate therapeutic target.