MicroRNA-26b acts as an antioncogene and prognostic factor in cervical cancer

Abstract

Cervical cancer is the second most frequent malignant neoplasm in women all over the world. MicroRNA-26b (miR-26b) has been reported to be downregulated and play a great role in many malignancies, nevertheless, there are scarce studies on cervical cancer. The purpose of the present study was to detect how miR-26b is involved in cervical carcinoma. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was utilized to detect the expression levels of miR-26b and Jagged1 (JAG1) mRNA. Transwell assay was applied to calculate the cell migration and invasion capacity. Luciferase reporter assay was employed to determine JAG1 as a target of miR-26b. The results revealed that miR-26b is downregulated in cervical cancer tissues and cells compared with paracancerous tissues and normal cervical epithelial cells. The low expression of miR-26b in cervical cancer demonstrated that miR-26b inhibits cell migration and invasion, as measured by Transwell assay. JAG1 was verified to be a target of miR-26b and have a negative correlation with miR-26b, as detected by luciferase reporter assay. In addition, miR-26b was found to suppress cell migration and invasion via mediating JAG1 expression, which impact is partially reversed by JAG1. In conclusion, miR-26b suppresses cell migration and invasion of cervical cancer through directly targeting JAG1. It is suggested that miR-26b/JAG1 axis may present a new target for the treatment of cervical cancer.