Objective: Accumulating evidence has shown that microRNAs (miRNAs) are aberrantly expressed in human gastric cancer and crucial to tumorigenesis. Herein, we identified the role of miR-126 in human gastric cancer (GC) growth and development in vitro.
Materials and methods: MiR-126 expression was investigated in GC tissue samples and cell lines by real-time PCR. Crystal violet test and Transwell assay were conducted to explore the effects of miR-126 on the proliferation and invasion of human GC cell lines, respectively. The impaction of miR-126 over expression on putative target Crk (v-crk sarcoma virus CT10 oncogene homolog) was subsequently confirmed via Western blot. Crk specific siRNA was used to suppress Crk expression.
Results: MiR-126 expression was frequently and markedly downregulated (p < 0.05) in human gastric cancer tissues. Overexpression of miR-126 inhibited GC cells invasion but did not affect its proliferation in vitro. Moreover, overexpression of miR-126 significantly decreased (p < 0.05) the protein levels of Crk, which has previously been identified as a direct target of miR-126. Knockdown of Crk also markedly suppressed GC cells invasion.
Conclusions: Our results demonstrated that overexpression of miR-126 inhibited GC cells invasion in part by targeting Crk. These findings suggested that miR-126 played major roles in the malignant behavior of GC and it might be a promising therapeutic target of GC.