MicroRNA-182 Suppresses Malignant Melanoma Proliferation by Targeting RECK

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) function as important post-transcriptional regulators involved in a wide range of biological behaviors. MicroRNA-182 (miR-182) has been shown to play a critical role in tumor pathogenesis. The present study aimed to investigate the role of miR-182 in malignant melanoma.

MTT assay was performed to measure the viabilities of cancer cells. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and western blot were used to detect the mRNA and protein expression, respectively. Moreover, the miRNA target genes were validated with luciferase activity assay.

In the current study, we found that the expression of miR-182 was significantly up-regulated in malignant melanoma tissues compared to the adjacent non-cancer tissues. MMT assay showed that down-regulation of miR-182 suppressed the proliferation of malignant melanoma cell line. By contrast, over-expression of miR-182 promoted the growth of malignant melanoma cells. In addition, the reversion-inducing cysteinerich protein with Kazal motifs (RECK) was down-expressed in human malignant melanoma tissues. Moreover, poor expression of miR-182 led to an increase in RECK expression, whereas over-expression of miR-182 reduced RECK levels in malignant melanoma cells. The luciferase reporter assay showed that RECK was a direct target of miR-182.

These findings demonstrated that miR-182 inhibited malignant melanoma cell proliferation via RECK, providing a novel target for the molecular treatment of malignant melanoma.