Pathologically decreased expression of miR-193a contributes to metastasis by targeting WT1-E-cadherin axis in non-small cell lung cancers

BACKGROUND: The metastatic cascade is a complex and multistep process with many potential barriers. Recently, miR-193a has been reported to be a suppressive miRNA in multiple types of cancers, but its underlying anti-oncogenic activity in non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) is not fully elucidated. METHODS: The expressions of miR-193a (miR-193a-5p) in human lung cancer tissues and cell lines were detected by real-time PCR. Dual-luciferase reporter assay was used to identify the direct target of miR-193a. Cell proliferation, apoptosis, and metastasis were assessed by CCK-8, flow cytometry, and Transwell assay, respectively. RESULTS: The expression of miR-193a in lung cancer tissues was decreased comparing to adjacent non-tumor tissues due to DNA hypermethylation in lung cancer tissues. Ectopic expression of miR-193a inhibited cell proliferation, colony formation, migration, and invasion in A549 and H1299 cells. Moreover, overexpression of miR-193a partially reversed tumor growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1)-induced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in NSCLC cells. Mechanistically, miR-193a reduced the expression of WT1, which negatively regulated the protein level of E-cadherin, suggesting that miR-193a might prevent EMT via modulating WT1-E-cadherin axis. Importantly, knockdown of WT1 resembled the anti-cancer activity by miR-193a and overexpression of WT1 partially reversed miR-193a-induced anti-cancer activity, indicating that WT1 plays an important role in miR-193a-induced anti-cancer activity. Finally, overexpression of miR-193a decreased the growth of tumor xenografts in mice. CONCLUSION: Collectively, our results have revealed an important role of miR-193a-WT1-E-cadherin axis in metastasis, demonstrated an important molecular cue for EMT, and suggested a therapeutic strategy of restoring miR-193a expression in NSCLC. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13046-016-0450-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.