Role of microRNA-30c Targeting ADAM19 in Colorectal Cancer

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are deregulated in a number of cancers including colorectal cancer. MiR-30c belongs to miR-30 family, and is involved in a variety of malignant diseases. In this study, we detected the expression of miR-30c in colon cancer cell lines and clinical colon cancer specimens. MiR-30c was shown to be dramatically down-regulated both in cell lines and cancer tissues. Additionally, miR-30c could inhibit cancer cell growth, migration and invasion in vitro. Consistently, stable over-expression of miR-30c inhibited the growth and lung metastasis of colon cancer cell xenografts in vivo. Furthermore, bioinformatics algorithm and luciferase reporter assay indicated ADAM19 as a direct target of miR-30c. Of interest, further experiments demonstrated that inhibition of ADAM19 by miR-30c partially mediated the anti-tumor effect of miR-30c. Overall, our study provides the new insight that miR-30c inhibited colon cancer cells via targeting ADAM19. Thus, miR-30c might serve as a promising therapeutic strategy for colon cancer treatment.