Role of microRNA-503 in the suppression of osteosarcoma cell proliferation and migration via modulation of fibroblast growth factor 2

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the expression levels of microRNA (miR)-503 in osteosarcoma (OS), as well as to assess the effects and underlying mechanisms of miR-503 on cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion of OS cells. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to determine the expression levels of miR-503 in OS and adjacent normal bone tissue samples. Proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion assays were performed to determine the effects of miR-503 on OS cells. The expression levels of miR-503 were significantly decreased in OS tissue samples, as compared with normal tissue samples (P<0.0001). Upregulation of miR-503 significantly inhibited proliferation and induced cell apoptosis, as compared with the negative controls. The results of the present study also demonstrated that miR-503 significantly decreased the migration and invasion ability of the OS cells, which may be mediated by the inhibition of fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2). In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that expression of miR-503 was involved in the inhibition of cellular proliferation, and induced apoptosis of the OS cells. In addition, miR-503 was able to inhibit the migration and invasion ability of OS cells, likely via the inhibition of FGF2 expression.