MicroRNA-182 plays an onco-miRNA role in cervical cancer

The purposes of this study were to identify aberrantly expressed miRNAs and investigate their pathogenic roles in cervical cancer.

miRNA expression was assessed in cervical cancer cell lines, micro-dissected normal cervical epithelium cells and primary cervical carcinoma by TaqMan RT-PCR. Spatial expression of miR-182 in cervical carcinoma and normal cervix was explored by in situ hybridization. HeLa xenograft mice model was used for evaluation of the effect on tumor growth of miR-182 inhibitor. Western blot, flow cytometry and gene expression analysis were used for identification of the functional role of miR-182 in HeLa cells.

Two up-regulated (miR-182 and -183) and nine down-regulated (miR-211, 145, 223, 150, 142-5p, 328, 195, 199b, 142-3p) microRNAs were consistently identified in cervical cancer cell lines. Further investigation confirmed the most up-regulated miRNA (miR-182) was significantly elevated in primary cervical carcinoma and discovered a significant correlation between the increased expression of miR-182 and advanced stages of cervical cancer. In HeLa xenograft mouse model, we demonstrated that inhibition of the miR-182 could exert the effect of tumor growth regression. Western blot, flow cytometry and pathway analysis for the HeLa cells with miR-182 over/down-expression in vitro showed that miR-182 was involved in apoptosis and cell cycle pathways, it also associated with the regulation of FOXO1.

Our findings indicated that miR-182 plays an onco-miRNA role in cervical cancer and its alteration is associated with cervical cancer pathogenesis by disrupting cell proliferation.