miR-17-5p accelerates cervical cancer cells migration and invasion via the TIMP2/MMPs signaling cascade

Cervical cancer (CC) is a common gynecological tumor, ranking second in the female reproductive system tumor. The work aims to study the function of miR-17-5p in the occurrence and pathogenesis of CC. We collected 36 cases of CC tissues for clinical analysis, and two CC cell lines (C33a and HCC94) were obtained for cellular analysis. As expected, the up-regulated miR-17-5p and down-regulated TIMP2 were detected in CC tissues and cell lines by RT-qPCR, in contrast with their normal counterparts. Then, overexpression of miR-17-5p significantly increased the CC cells viability and colonies formation abilities. Moreover, the Transwell analysis revealed that miR-17-5p promoted the capability of invasion and migration. Meanwhile, the expression levels of MMP2 and MMP9 was inhibited by the inhibition of miR-17-5p. The luciferase analysis demonstrated that TIMP2 was the target of miR-17-5p. In addition, cell proliferation, invasion and migration in HCC94 cells were repressed by silencing miR-17-5p, which were reversed by TIMP2 knockdown. In summary, all results indicated that miR-17-5p targeted TIMP2 to modulate CC cells' proliferation, invasion and migration through MMPs signaling pathway; and the miR-17-5p/TIMP2/MMPs signaling pathway had the potential to become a therapeutic target of CC for clinical utilization.