CD73/NT5E is a target of miR-30a-5p and plays an important role in the pathogenesis of non-small cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND: CD73 (ecto-5′-nucleotidase) is implicated in the development of many types of cancer. CD73 inhibitors are currently being tested in clinical trials for the treatment of cancer. Understanding the molecular and cellular actions of CD73 inhibitors is the key to improving this line of therapy. METHODS: Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression of CD73 and miR-30a-5p; Western blot and immunohistochemical assays were used to investigate the levels of CD73 and other proteins. Flow cytometry was used to determine cell cycle stage and apoptosis. CCK-8 and clonogenic assays were used to investigate cell proliferation. Wound healing, migration and invasion assays were used to investigate the motility of cells. A lung carcinoma xenograft mouse model was used to investigate the in vivo effects of CD73 and miR-30a-5p. RESULTS: In the present study, we found that CD73 is overexpressed and miR-30a-5p is underexpressed in non-small cell lung cancer tissues compared with adjacent noncancerous. Further, we showed that CD73 is a direct target of miR-30a-5p by luciferase reporter assays, qRT-PCR and western blot analysis. We also found that overexpression of miR-30a-5p in these non-small cell lung cancer cell lines inhibited cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, the epithelial-to-mesenchymal phenotype was suppressed and cell migration and invasion were inhibited; these effects were brought about via the EGF signaling pathway. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings reveal a new post-transcriptional mechanism of CD73 regulation via miR-30a-5p and EGFR-related drug resistance in non-small cell lung cancer. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12943-017-0591-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.