miR-367-3p Regulates Cells Proliferation and Invasion in NSCLC by Targeting ZEB2

Abstract

Background and objective microRNAs play an important role in the development and biological phenotype of lung cancer. The present study was to investigate miR-367-3p level in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and its biological function of NSCLC cells. Methods Twenty-two patients with NSCLC (13 cases of adenocarcinoma and 9 cases of squamous carcinoma) admitted to our hospital and treated by surgery were included. During the operation, cancer tissue, paracancerous tissue and 5 mL peripheral blood were collected. Meanwhile, 22 healthy controls were selected and 5 mL peripheral blood was taken. Real-time PCR was applied to detected the expression of miR-367-3p in cancer tissues, peripheral blood of patients with NSCLC and healthy controls. miR-367-3p was detected in lung cancer cell lines (A549) and normal bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B). The proliferation and invasion ability of A549 cells before and after infection were detected by MTT and Transwell assay after transfection with exogenous miR-367-3p. The downstream target gene of miR-367-3p was analyzed by bioinformatics. Zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 2 (ZEB2) was detected by Real-time PCR and Western blot. Results miR-367-3p in cancer tissues of 22 NSCLC patients was lower than corresponding normal tissues (P0.05). ZEB2 expression was positively correlated with infiltration of B lymphocytes (r=0.32, P<005), CD8+ T cells (r=0.44, P<005), CD4+ T cells (r=0.46, P<005), macrophages (r=0.65, P<005), neutrophils (r=0.73, P<005) and dendritic cells (r=0.71, P<005) in NSCLC. Conclusion The expression of miR-367-3p is down regulated in NSCLC patients and participates in the biological process of proliferation and invasion of NSCLC by targeting ZEB2 gene.

Keywords

• lung neoplasms
• mir-367-3p
• invasion
• metastasis