MicroRNA-150 predicts a favorable prognosis in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer, and inhibits cell invasion and metastasis by suppressing transcriptional repressor ZEB1

PLoS One. 2014 Aug 4;9(8):e103965. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0103965. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

MicroRNA (miR)-150 has been reported to be dramatically downregulated in human epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) tissues and patients' serum compared to normal controls. This study aimed to investigate clinical significance and molecular mechanisms of miR-150 in EOC. In the current study, quantitative real-time PCR analysis showed that miR-150 was significantly downregulated in human EOC tissues compared to normal tissue samples. Then, we demonstrated the significant associations of miR-150 downregulation with aggressive clinicopathological features of EOC patients, including high clinical stage and pathological grade, and shorter overall and progression-free survivals. More importantly, the multivariate analysis identified miR-150 expression as an independent prognostic biomarker in EOC. After that, luciferase reporter assays demonstrated that Zinc Finger E-Box Binding Homeobox 1 (ZEB1), a crucial regulator of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), was a direct target of miR-150 in EOC cells. Moreover, we found that the ectopic expression of miR-150 could efficiently inhibit cell proliferation, invasion and metastasis by suppressing the expression of ZEB1. Furthermore, we also observed a significantly negative correlation between miR-150 and ZEB1 mRNA expression in EOC tissues (rs = -0.45, P<0.001). In conclusion, these findings offer the convincing evidence that aberrant expression of miR-150 may play a role in tumor progression and prognosis in patients with EOC. Moreover, our data reveal that miR-150 may function as a tumor suppressor and modulate EOC cell proliferation, and invasion by directly and negatively regulating ZEB1, implying the re-expression of miR-150 might be a potential therapeutic strategy for EOC.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Carcinoma, Ovarian Epithelial
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Disease Progression
  • Disease-Free Survival
  • Down-Regulation
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
  • Homeodomain Proteins / genetics
  • Homeodomain Proteins / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Kaplan-Meier Estimate
  • MicroRNAs / genetics
  • MicroRNAs / metabolism*
  • Middle Aged
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Neoplasm Invasiveness
  • Neoplasm Metastasis
  • Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / genetics*
  • Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / pathology*
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Prognosis
  • RNA, Messenger / genetics
  • RNA, Messenger / metabolism
  • RNA, Small Interfering / metabolism
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Repressor Proteins / metabolism*
  • Transcription Factors / genetics
  • Transcription Factors / metabolism*
  • Zinc Finger E-box-Binding Homeobox 1

Substances

  • Homeodomain Proteins
  • MIRN150 microRNA, human
  • MicroRNAs
  • RNA, Messenger
  • RNA, Small Interfering
  • Repressor Proteins
  • Transcription Factors
  • ZEB1 protein, human
  • Zinc Finger E-box-Binding Homeobox 1

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau (No. 20114y079); Medicine and Engineering Foundation of Shanghai Jiaotong University (No. YG2011MS33). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.