microRNA-503 inhibits gastric cancer cell growth and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition

Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is believed to be associated with cancer cell malignancy, and also to cause cancer invasion and metastasis. Recent evidence indicates that small non-protein coding RNA [microRNAs (miRNAs/miRs)] may act as powerful regulators of EMT. The present study aimed to systematically delineate miR-503 expression in gastric cancer and analyse the function of miR-503 in gastric cancer EMT. In the present study, miR-503 expression was detected in gastric cancer cell lines and gastric cancer tissues by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Gastric cancer cell migration, invasion and proliferation capabilities were analysed by Transwell, MTT and clonability assays. The expression of mesenchymal markers, including fibronectin, vimentin, N-cadherin, SNAIL and the epithelial marker, E-cadherin, was examined by immunoblot analysis following miR-503 transfection. miR-503 expression was found to be reduced in gastric cancer cell lines compared with normal gastric mucosa cell lines, and the expression of miR-503 was upregulated in non-metastatic-derived gastric cancer cell lines compared with metastatic-derived lines. miR-503 expression levels were significantly reduced in tumour tissues in comparison with adjacent normal mucosa tissues, and the miR-503 expression levels in patients with metastases were significantly lower than those in patients without. miR-503 inhibited gastric cancer cell migration, invasion and proliferation. Fibronectin, vimentin, N-cadherin and SNAIL protein levels were decreased, but E-cadherin expression was increased in an AGS cell line transfected with miR-503. Taken together, the present findings indicate that miR-503 acts as a novel tumour suppressor gene in gastric cancer and can inhibit EMT in gastric cancer cells.