MicroRNA-187 suppresses the proliferation migration and invasion of human osteosarcoma cells by targeting MAPK7

Osteosarcoma is one of the rare but fatal malignancies. The high metastatic rate, late diagnosis, emergence of drug resistance against drugs such as doxorubicin, and the lack of therapeutic targets obstructs the treatment of osteosarcoma. This study was undertaken to investigate the role and therapeutic potential of miR-187 in human osteosarcoma cells.

The WST-1 proliferation assay was used for investigation of cell viability. Transfections were carried out by Lipofectamine 2000 reagent. The qRT-PCR was used for expression analysis. DAPI, acridine orange (AO)/ethidium bromide (EB) and Annexin V/propidium iodide (PI) assay were used for apoptosis. Western blot analysis was used for the determination of protein expression.

The expression of miR-187 was significantly downregulated in human osteosarcoma cells. Out of all osteosarcoma cell lines the SAOS-2 showed the lowest expression of miR-187 and therefore this cell line was selected for further studies. Overexpression of miR-187 caused significant inhibition in the proliferation of SAOS-2 osteosarcoma cells. The miR-187-triggered growth inhibition was found to be mainly due to induction of G2/M phase cell cycle arrest of the SAOS-2 cells. The G2/M cell cycle arrest was also accompanied by depletion of Cyclin-B1 expression. Additionally, miR-187 enhanced the chemosensitivity of the osteosarcoma cells to doxorubicin. The wound healing and transwell assay showed that miR-187 overexpression resulted in the suppression of migration and invasion of the SAOS-2 osteosarcoma cells. In silico analysis showed that miR-187 exerts its effects by inhibiting mitogen activated protein kinase 7 (MAPK7). The expression of MAPK7 was found to be significantly upregulated in osteosarcoma cells and overexpression of MAPK7 could nullify the effects of miR-187 on the proliferation of the osteosarcoma cells.