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Updated: Jan 1, 2026
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Published on: June 7, 2016
miR-4324 functions as a tumor suppressor in colorectal cancer by targeting HOXB2
Hailin Li1, Guiling Zhu1, Yanwei Xing1
1Department of Colorectal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, People's Republic of China.
Objective:
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are reported to have crucial roles in human cancers; however, their role in colorectal cancer (CRC) remains largely unknown.
Methods:
In this study, we analyzed the expression of miR-4324 in CRC cell lines using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). We also examined miR-4324 expression in CRC tumor tissues using a miRNA expression dataset obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus. We validated the connection between miR-4324 and homeobox B2 (HOXB2) using a luciferase activity reporter assay and western blotting. The effects of miR-4324 and HOXB2 on CRC cell malignant behaviors in vitro were further investigated.
Results:
miR-4324 expression was significantly decreased in both CRC tumor tissues and cell lines. Overexpression of miR-4324 suppressed CRC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. In contrast, overexpression of HOXB2 promoted CRC malignant cell behaviors. Furthermore, we validated HOXB2 as a direct target of miR-4324.
Conclusions:
miR-4324 expression was decreased in CRC. miR-4324 regulates CRC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion by targeting HOXB2.
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