The expression of miR-203 has been reported to be significantly down-regulated in esophageal cancer. We showed here that overexpression of miR-203 in esophageal cancer cells dramatically increased cell apoptosis and inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasion as well as tumor growth and down-regulated miR-21 expression. We subsequently identified that small GTPase Ran was a target gene of miR-203. Furthermore, Ran restoration partially counteracted the tumor suppressive effects of miR-203 and increased miR-21 expression. Taken together, our findings suggest that miR-203 may act as novel tumor suppressor in esophageal cancer through down-regulating the expression of Ran and miR-21.
Keywords: Esophageal cancer; MiR-203; MiR-21; Ran; Tumor suppressor.
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