MiR-222 overexpression promotes proliferation of human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells by downregulating p27

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents the third leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Increasing evidence suggests that microRNAs, a novel class of non-coding RNAs that function as endogenous suppressors of gene expression, are deregulated in HCC. Although microRNA-222 (miR-222) overexpression has been described in HCC, the role of miR-222 and its target genes in the proliferation of hepatocellular carcinoma cells remain poorly elucidated.

HepG2 cells were transfected with miR-222 mimic, inhibitor or their negative controls. Cell proliferation was assessed by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and EdU incorporation assay. Flow cytometry was performed to assess the effects of miR-222 on HepG2 cell cycle progression. MiR-222 and putative targets genes (p27 and p57) expression levels were determined using qRT-PCR and/or Western blot.

MiR-222 overexpression induced an enhancement of HepG2 cell proliferation in vitro, paralleling with an altered cell cycle progression via increased cell population in S phase. P27 expression, other than p57, was negatively regulated by miR-222 overexpression at post-transcriptional level in HepG2 cells. Transfection of either small interfering RNA (siRNA) for p27 or miR-222 mimic increased HepG2 cell proliferation rate, whereas co-transfection of p27 siRNA and miR-222 mimic did not further enhance HepG2 cell proliferation in comparison with the cells transfected with p27 siRNA or miR-222 mimic alone, validating that p27 is a target gene of miR-222 during HepG2 cell proliferation.

This study suggests that miR-222 overexpression promotes HepG2 cell proliferation by downregulating p27.