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Characterization of Functionally Associated miRNAs in Glioblastoma and their Engineering into Artificial Clusters for Gene Therapy
Published on: October 4, 2019
MiRNA-181b suppresses IGF-1R and functions as a tumor suppressor gene in gliomas
Zhu-Mei Shi1, Xie-Feng Wang, Xu Qian
1Department of Neurosurgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China.
Abstract:
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are single-stranded, 18- to 23-nt RNA molecules that function as regulators of gene expression. Previous studies have shown that microRNAs play important roles in human cancers, including gliomas. Here, we found that expression levels of miR-181b were decreased in gliomas, and we identified IGF-1R as a novel direct target of miR-181b. MiR-181b overexpression inhibited cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and tumorigenesis by targeting IGF-1R and its downstream signaling pathways, PI3K/AKT and MAPK/ERK1/2. Overexpression of IGF-1R rescued the inhibitory effects of miR-181b. In clinical specimens, IGF-1R was overexpressed, and its protein levels were inversely correlated with miR-181b expression. Taken together, our results indicate that miR-181b functions in gliomas to suppress growth by targeting the IGF-1R oncogene and that miR-181b may serve as a novel therapeutic target for gliomas.
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