MicroRNA-183 inhibits apoptosis and promotes proliferation and invasion of gastric cancer cells by targeting PDCD4.

Abstract

MicroRNA plays an important role in multiple processes of cancer development. Aberrant expression of miR-183 has been frequently reported in a variety of cancer types; however, the roles and mechanisms of miR-183 in gastric cancer are largely unknown. Here, we report that miR-183 is significantly up-regulated in human gastric tumor tissues compared to the adjacent normal tissues. Up-regulation of miR-183 is associated with advanced clinical stage, positive lymph node, deep stromal invasion, and distant metastasis in gastric cancer patients. We further demonstrated that miR-183 promotes gastric cancer cell growth in vitro by inhibition of apoptosis. Moreover, overexpression of miR-183 enhances gastric cancer cell migration and invasion. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that overexpression of miR-183 decreased, and inhibition of miR-183 increased the expression of PDCD4, a tumor suppressor, at both mRNA and protein levels. Taken together, our results suggest that miR-183 may modulate progression and metastatic potential of gastric cancer through inhibition of PDCD4 expression. miR-183 could serve as a potential biomarker for gastric cancer progression and a novel therapeutic target for gastric cancer treatment.