Increasing evidences show that microRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in the regulation of tumorigenesis, progression, recurrence and drug resistance of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). miR-369 works as a tumor suppressor in both lung cancer and thyroid cancer. However, the potential biological function of miR-369 in HCC is unknown. Herein, we for first found that miR-369 expression was downregulated in HCC tissues and predicted the poor prognosis of HCC patients. Forced miR-369 expression inhibited the proliferation and metastasis of HCC cells in vitro and in vivo. Mechanically, bioinformatics and luciferase reporter analysis identified Zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1) as a direct target of miR-369 in HCC cells. miR-369 overexpressing downregulated the ZEB1 mRNA and protein expression in HCC cells. miR-369 expression was negatively associated with ZEB1 expression in human HCC tissues. More importantly, the ZEB1 siRNA diminished the discrepancy of growth and metastasis capacity between miR-369 overexpression HCC cells and control cells.
Keywords: ZEB1; hepatocellular carcinoma; miR-369; prognosis; progression.
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