Regulation of UHRF1 by microRNA-378 modulates medulloblastoma cell proliferation and apoptosis

Abstract

A previous study revealed that ubiquitin-like with PHD and RING finger domains 1 (UHRF1) promoted cell proliferation and was a potential biomarker in medulloblastoma (MB). In the present study, we reported that miR-378 inhibited the expression of UHRF1 to affect the proliferation of MB through competitive binding to the same region of its 3'-UTR. We found that the expression of miR-378 was significantly downregulated in MB tissues and inversely correlated with the expression of UHRF1. Western blot analysis revealed that overexpression of miR-378 led to the suppression of UHRF1. Moreover, a dual-luciferase assay demonstrated that miR-378 negatively regulated the activity of target gene UHRF1 by binding to its 3'-UTR. An in vitro assay revealed that overexpression of miR-378 suppressed MB cell proliferation and promoted cell apoptosis. Ectopic expression of UHRF1 rescued miR-378-suppressed cell proliferation and miR-378-promoted cell apoptosis. Collectively, the present study demonstrated that miR-378 could inhibit the proliferation of MB by downregulation of UHRF1 and act as a potential therapeutic target against MB.