Objective: MicroRNA-361-5p (miR-361-5p) has been found to be involved in the pathogenesis of several human cancers. However, the specific role of miR-361-5p is still unclear in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Therefore, this study was designed to elucidate the function of miR-361-5p in HCC.
Patients and methods: The expression levels of miR-361-5p and Wilms' tumor-1 (WT1) were detected by quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) assay. Moreover, the function of miR-361-5p was examined through Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and transwell assays. The protein expressions were examined via Western blot analysis and immunocytochemical assay. Tumor growth of HCC was observed via xenograft tumor formation assay. The relationship between miR-361-5p and WT1 was verified by the Dual-Luciferase assay.
Results: Downregulation of miR-361-5p was identified in HCC, which predicted a worse prognosis in HCC patients. Furthermore, it was found that miR-361-5p suppressed cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in HCC by inhibiting WT1. MiR-361-5p also inhibited tumor growth of HCC. Besides that, miR-361-5p suppressed EMT and negatively activated the WNT/β-cadherin pathway in HCC.
Conclusions: MiR-361-5p suppressed tumorigenesis of HCC by targeting WT1 and inactivating the WNT/β-cadherin pathway.