SNP rs3202538 in 3′UTR region of ErbB3 regulated by miR-204 and miR-211 promote gastric cancer development in Chinese population

BACKGROUND/AIMS: ErbB3 is an oncogene which has proliferation and metastasis promotion effects by several signaling pathways. However, the individual expression difference regulated by miRNA was almost still unknown. We focused on the miRNAs associated SNPs in the 3′-UTR of ErbB3 to investigate the further relationship of the SNPs with miRNAs among Chinese gastric cancer (GC) patients. METHODS: We performed case–control study including 851 GC patients and 799 cancer-free controls. Genotyping, real-time PCR assay, cell transfection, the dual luciferase reporter assay, western-blot, cell proliferation and trans-well based cell invasion assay were used to investigate the effects of the SNP on ErbB3 expression. Moreover, a 5-years-overall survival and relapse free survival were investigated between different genotypes. RESULTS: We found that patients suffering from Helicobacter pylori (Hp.) infection indicated to be the susceptible population by comparing with controls. Besides, SNP rs3202538 (G/T) in ErbB3 3′-UTR was involved in the occurrence of GC by acting as tumor risk factors. SNP rs3202538 (G/T) could be regulated by both miR-204 and miR-211 which caused an upregulation of ErbB3 in patients. Furthermore, the carriers of T genotype was related to the significantly high expression of ErbB3, and to big tumor size, poor differentiation as well as the high probability of metastasis. Both miR-211 and miR-204 can significantly decrease cell proliferation, metastasis as well as downstream AKT activation through G but not T allele of ErbB3 3′UTR. Moreover, the SNP of G/T was associated with shorter survival of post-surgery GC patients with 5 years of follow up study. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, our findings have shown that the SNP rs3202538 (G/T) in ErbB3 3′-UTR acted as promotion factors in the GC development through disrupting the regulatory role of miR-204 and miR-211 in ErbB3 expression. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12935-017-0449-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.