miR-223 regulates migration and invasion by targeting Artemin in human esophageal carcinoma

Artemin (ARTN) is a neurotrophic factor belonging to the glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor family of ligands. To develop potential therapy targeting ARTN, we studied the roles of miR-223 in the migration and invasion of human esophageal carcinoma.

ARTN expression levels were detected in esophageal carcinoma cell lines KYSE-150, KYSE-510, EC-9706, TE13, esophageal cancer tissues and paired non-cancerous tissues by Western blot. Artemin siRNA expression vectors were constructed to knockdown of artemin expression mitigated migration and invasiveness in KYSE150 cells. Monolayer wound healing assay and Transwell invasion assay were applied to observe cancer cell migration and invasion. The relative levels of expression were quantified by real-time quantitative PCR.

ARTN expression levels were higher in esophageal carcinoma tissue than in the adjacent tissue and was differentially expressed in various esophageal carcinoma cell lines. ARTN mRNA contains a binding site for miR-223 in the 3'UTR. Co-transfection of a mir-223 expression vector with pMIR-ARTN led to the reduced activity of luciferase in a dual-luciferase reporter gene assay, suggesting that ARTN is a target gene of miR-223. Overexpression of miR-223 decreased expression of ARTN in KYSE150 cells while silencing miR-223 increased expression of ARTN in EC9706 cells. Furthermore, overexpression of miR-223 in KYSE150 cells decreased cell migration and invasion. Silencing of miR-223 in EC9706 cells increased cell migration and invasiveness.

These results reveal that ARTN, a known tumor metastasis-related gene, is a direct target of miR-223 and that miR-223 may have a tumor suppressor function in esophageal carcinoma and could be used in anticancer therapies.