Objective: MicroRNA-206 plays important roles in tumorigenesis and tumor progression of various human malignancies. However, its involvement in cervical cancer has remained unclear.
Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the expression patterns and clinical implications of miR-206 in cervical cancer.
Materials and methods: Quantitative RT-PCR was performed to evaluate the expression levels of miR-206 in cervical cancer cell lines and primary tumor tissues. The clinicopathologic significance and the prognostic value of miR-206 expression were further determined. Finally, the effects of miR-206 on HeLa cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, and migration were investigated.
Results: MiR-206 expression was significantly downregulated in cervical cancer samples when compared with normal adjacent tissues. Low level of miR-206 was associated with advanced FIGO stage (p < 0.001), positive lymph node metastasis (p < 0.001), poor differentiation (p = 0.016), and human papillomavirus infection (p = 0.007). Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that decreased miR-206 expression was an independent unfavorable prognostic factor for overall survival. In addition, transfection of miR-206 mimics in HeLa cells was able to reduce cell proliferation, promote cell apoptosis, and inhibit cell invasion and migration.
Conclusions: miR-206 may act not only as a novel diagnostic and prognostic marker, but also as a potential target for molecular therapy of cervical cancer.