MicroRNA-124a inhibits cell proliferation and migration in Liver cancer by regulating interleukin-11

Abstract

Liver cancer is the sixth most common malignant tumour and ranks in the top three cancers with regard to mortality due to metastasis a nd post surgica l recur rence. It is sign ificant to understand the mechanisms underlying liver cancer for diagnosis and treatment. Cumulative evidence suggests that the abnormal regulation of microRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) may contribute to the development and metastasis of cancer. miR-124a acts as a tumour suppressor in osteosarcoma, endometrial carcinoma, prostate cancer, and glioblastoma. However, the effects of miR-124a in liver cancer and its biological mechanism are not fully understood. It has been demonstrated that miR-124a is downregulated and interleukin (IL)-11 is upregulated in the liver cancer tissues. In the present study, miR-124a upregulation inhibited cell proliferation, migration and promoted cell apoptosis. Through a dual-luciferase reporter assay, it was verified that IL-11 is a direct target of miR-124a. Furthermore, the overexpression of miR-124a repressed the secretion of IL-11 from hepatoma cells. Finally, it was identified that mimics of miR-124a increased the expression of tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2) and Caspase-3 and decreased the expression levels of matrix metalloproteinase 2(MMP2), MMP9, B-cell lymphoma 2, signal transducer and activator of transcription 3(STAT3), and phosphorylated-STAT3. In conclusion, the results indicated that miR-124a has an important role as a tumour suppressor gene by targeting IL-11. These findings may provide novel insights for clinical treatments to prevent the development of liver cancer.