miR‐124‐3p availability is antagonized by LncRNA‐MALAT1 for Slug‐induced tumor metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma

• Published in: Cancer medicine (Malden, MA) Vol. 8; no. 14; pp. 6358 - 6369
• Main Authors: Cui, Rong‐Jun, Fan, Jia‐Lin, Lin, Yu‐Cui, Pan, Yu‐Jia, Liu, Chi, Wan, Jia‐Hui, Wang, Wei, Jiang, Zheng‐Yuan, Zheng, Xiu‐Lan, Tang, Jie‐Bing, Yu, Xiao‐Guang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.10.2019; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: Adenocarcinoma; Adult; Aged; Animals; Binding sites; Cancer Biology; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - genetics; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - pathology; Cell adhesion & migration; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell migration; Disease Models, Animal; Ethics; Experiments; Female; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Gene Knockdown Techniques; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Hepatoma; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Immunoprecipitation; Liver cancer; Liver Neoplasms - genetics; Liver Neoplasms - pathology; Lung cancer; Male; Medical research; Metastases; Metastasis; metastasis‐associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1; Mice; MicroRNAs - genetics; Middle Aged; miR‐124‐3p; Neoplasm Metastasis; Neoplasm Staging; Original Research; Patients; Prognosis; Proteins; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; RNA Interference; RNA, Long Noncoding - genetics; ROC Curve; Snail Family Transcription Factors - genetics; Snail Family Transcription Factors - metabolism; Snail protein; Studies; Transcription; tumor metastasis; Tumors; Western blotting; Wound healing; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays; Zinc finger proteins; China; metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1; miR-124-3p; tumor metastasis; hepatocellular carcinoma
• ISSN: 2045-7634; 2045-7634
• DOI: 10.1002/cam4.2482

Background As an oncogene, long noncoding RNA metastasis‐associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) can promote tumor metastasis. Hyperexpression of MALAT1 has been observed in many malignant tumors, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the role and mechanism of MALAT1 in HCC remain unclear. Methods Thirty human HCC and paracancerous tissue specimens were collected, and the human hepatoma cell lines Huh7 and HepG2 were cultured according to standard methods. MALAT1 and Snail family zinc finger (Slug) expression were measured by real‐time PCR, immunohistochemistry, and western blotting. Luciferase reporter assay and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay verified the direct interaction between miR‐124‐3p and Slug(SNAI2) or MALAT1. Wound healing and transwell assays were performed to examine invasion and migration, and a subcutaneous tumor model was established to measure tumor progression in vivo. Results MALAT1 expression was upregulated in HCC tissues and positively correlated with Slug expression. MALAT1 and miR‐124‐3p bind directly and reversibly to each other. MALAT1 silencing inhibited cell migration and invasion. miR‐124‐3p inhibited HCC metastasis by targeting Slug. Conclusions MALAT1 regulates Slug through miR‐124‐3p, affecting HCC cell metastasis. Thus, the MALAT1/miR‐124‐3p/Slug axis plays an important role in HCC. Metastasis‐associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) regulates Slug through miR‐124‐3p, affecting cell migration and cell invasion. Thus, the MALAT1/miR‐124‐3p/Slug axis plays an important role in hepatocellular carcinoma.