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MicroRNA-451 functions as a tumor suppressor in human non-small cell lung cancer by targeting ras-related protein 14 (RAB14)

Oncogene volume 30, pages 2644–2658 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

Accumulating evidence suggests that microRNAs (miRNAs) are important gene regulators, which can have critical roles in diverse biological processes including tumorigenesis. In this study, we analyzed the miRNA expression profiles in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) by use of a miRNA microarray platform and identified 40 differentially expressed miRNAs. We showed that miRNA (miR)-451 was the most downregulated in NSCLC tissues. The expression level of miR-451 was found to be significantly correlated with tumor differentiation, pathological stage and lymph-node metastasis. Moreover, low miR-451 expression level was also correlated with shorter overall survival of NSCLC patients (P<0.001). Ectopic miR-451 expression significantly suppressed the in vitro proliferation and colony formation of NSCLC cells and the development of tumors in nude mice by enhancing apoptosis, which might be associated with inactivation of Akt signaling pathway. Interestingly, ectopic miR-451 expression could significantly inhibit RAB14 protein expression and decrease a luciferase-reporter activity containing the RAB14 3′-untranslated region (UTR). In addition,, RNA interference silencing of RAB14 gene could recapitulate the tumor suppressor function of miR-451, whereas restoration of RAB14 expression could partially attenuate the tumor suppressor function of miR-451 in NSCLC cells. Furthermore, we also showed that strong positive immunoreactivity of RAB14 protein was significantly associated with downregulation of miR-451 (P=0.01). These findings suggest that miR-451 regulates survival of NSCLC cells partially through the downregulation of RAB14. Therefore, targeting with the miR-451/RAB14 interaction might serve as a novel therapeutic application to treat NSCLC patients.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the excellent technical support and sincere help of the Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics cores of Harbin Medical University, and the Animal Resources Center of School of Medicine, Nanjing University. We thank Zhang Ai-Ping and Cao Lei for assistance with obtaining tissue samples, Huang Gui-Chun for assistance with BALB/c athymic node mouse, and Xu Lin-Yong for assistance with statistical analysis. This study was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC 30872979, 30901440, and 30973477), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30973477 and BK2010590), and the Medical Science Development Subject in Science and Technology Project of Nanjing (Grant No. ZKX08017 and YKK08091).

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Author notes

  1. R Wang, Z-X Wang and J-S Yang: These authors contributed equally to this work and should be regarded as joint first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Oncology, Jinling Hospital, School of Medicine, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, PR China

    R Wang & L-B Chen

  2. Department of Oncology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, PR China

    Z-X Wang & X Pan

  3. Department of Oncology, Affiliated Nanjing First Hospital of Nanjing Medical Univ ersity, Nanjing, Jiangsu, PR China

    J-S Yang

  4. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, PR China

    J-S Yang & W De

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  1. R Wang
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Correspondence to W De or L-B Chen.

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Wang, R., Wang, ZX., Yang, JS. et al. MicroRNA-451 functions as a tumor suppressor in human non-small cell lung cancer by targeting ras-related protein 14 (RAB14). Oncogene 30, 2644–2658 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2010.642

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