MicroRNA-425-5p promotes the development of prostate cancer via targeting forkhead box J3

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have critical roles in the progression of prostate cancer (PCa) and have the potential to be used as prognosis biomarkers. In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of miR-425-5p in the progression of PCa.

miR-425-5p expression in PCa tumor tissues and cell lines was measured by Quantitative Real-time PCR (RT-qPCR). Effects of miR-425-5p expression on PCa cell proliferation, colony formation, cell migration, and cell invasion were measured.

We found miR-425-5p expression was elevated in both PCa tissues and cell lines. Importantly, we found overexpression of miR-425-5p promoted proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion of PCa cell lines in vitro. Forkhead box J3 (FOXJ3) was validated as a downstream target of miR-425-5p. Finally, we found the stimulation effects of miR-425-5p on PCa cell behaviors were fulfilled through directly regulating the expression of FOXJ3, which validated FOXJ3 as a functional target of miR-425-5p in PCa.

Taken together, our results demonstrated miR-425-5p may contribute the malignancy progression of PCa in a mechanism involving FOXJ3, implicating miR-425-5p may be developed as therapeutic target for PCa in the future.