Targeting of multiple myeloma-related angiogenesis by miR-199a-5p mimics: in vitro and in vivo anti-tumor activity

Oncotarget. 2014 May 30;5(10):3039-54. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.1747.

Abstract

Multiple myeloma (MM) cells induce relevant angiogenic effects within the human bone marrow milieu (huBMM) by the aberrant expression of angiogenic factors. Hypoxia triggers angiogenic events within the huBMM and the transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) is over-expressed by MM cells. Since synthetic miR-199a-5p mimics negatively regulates HIF-1α, we here investigated a miRNA-based therapeutic strategy against hypoxic MM cells. We indeed found that enforced expression of miR-199a-5p led to down-modulated expression of HIF-1α as well as of other pro-angiogenic factors such as VEGF-A, IL-8, and FGFb in hypoxic MM cells in vitro. Moreover, miR-199a-5p negatively affected MM cells migration, while it increased the adhesion of MM cells to bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) in hypoxic conditions. Furthermore, transfection of MM cells with miR-199a-5p significantly impaired also endothelial cells migration and down-regulated the expression of endothelial adhesion molecules such as VCAM-1 and ICAM-1. Finally, we identified a hypoxia\AKT/miR-199a-5p loop as a potential molecular mechanism responsible of miR-199a-5p down-regulation in hypoxic MM cells. Taken together our results indicate that miR-199a-5p has an important role for the pathogenesis of MM and support the hypothesis that targeting angiogenesis via a miRNA/HIF-1α pathway may represent a novel potential therapeutical approach for this still lethal disease.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Blotting, Western
  • Cell Adhesion / genetics
  • Cell Hypoxia / genetics
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Movement / genetics
  • Cell Proliferation / genetics
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
  • Female
  • Humans
  • In Vitro Techniques
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred NOD
  • Mice, SCID
  • MicroRNAs / genetics*
  • MicroRNAs / pharmacology
  • Multiple Myeloma / genetics*
  • Neovascularization, Pathologic / genetics*
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Transfection
  • Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays

Substances

  • MicroRNAs
  • mirn199 microRNA, human