MicroRNA-301a promotes migration and invasion by targeting TGFBR2 in human colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported to play crucial roles in regulating a variety of genes pivotal for tumor metastasis. MicroRNA-301a (miR-301a) is overexpressed and displays oncogenic activity in many cancers. However, little is known about the potential roles of miR-301a in colorectal cancer (CRC). METHODS: Taqman probe stem-loop real-time PCR was used to quantitatively measure the expression level of miR-301a in 48 cases of CRC tissues and the matched adjacent non-tumor mucosa as well as in CRC cell lines. miR-301a mimics and inhibitors were used to up-regulate and down-regulate miR-301a in CRC cells, respectively; lentivirus was used to construct miR-301a stably up- and down-regulated CRC cell lines. Metastasis ability was evaluated by transwell and wound healing assays while invasion was measured by transwell coated with matrix gel in vitro; in vivo metastasis was performed on nude mice model. The target of miR-301a was predicted by TargetScan software and validated by qRT-PCR, immunohistochemistry, western blot and luciferase reporter gene assay. RESULTS: The expression of miR-301a was significantly higher in lymph node metastasis positive CRC samples compared with negative ones. Downregulation of miR-301a significantly inhibited the migration and invasion both in vitro and in vivo while forced up-regulation of miR-301a promoted migration and invasion. TGFBR2 was identified to be the downstream target of miR-301a. Knockdown of TGFBR2 in cells treated by miR-301a inhibitor elevated the previously abrogated migration and invasion. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicated that miR-301a correlated with the metastatic and invasive ability in human colorectal cancers and miR-301a exerted its role as oncogene by targeting TGFBR2.