Regulatory roles of miRNA-758 and matrix extracellular phosphoglycoprotein in cervical cancer

The present study aimed to examine the role and underlying mechanism of miRNA-758 (miR-758) expression in cancer tissues, blood and cervical exfoliated cells from patients with cervical cancer. A total of 49 patients with cervical cancer and 26 healthy people for cervical cancer screening were included in the present study. The patients with cervical cancer were treated with resection, and the tumor and adjacent tissues, blood and cervical exfoliated cells were collected. The expression levels of miR-758 and matrix extracellular phosphoglycoprotein (MEPE) mRNA in each sample were detected by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. In addition, western blot analysis was used to detect the MEPE protein in tumor tissues, while ELISA was applied to detect the MEPE protein expression in the blood and cervical exfoliated cells. Compared with the normal control, MEPE mRNA expression was upregulated in cervical cancer tissues, blood and cervical exfoliated cells. At the protein level, MEPE was also upregulated significantly in patients with cervical cancer. miR-758 expression was decreased significantly in cervical cancer tissues, blood and cervical exfoliated cells (P<0.05), which was opposite to the trend observed for MEPE mRNA expression. Furthermore, MEPE expression was increased in the tumor tissue, blood and cervical exfoliated cells of cervical cancer patients, which was associated to the downregulated miR-758. Therefore, miR-758 may regulate the infiltration and invasion of cervical cancer by targeting MEPE.