Targeting of GIT1 by miR-149* in breast cancer suppresses cell proliferation and metastasis in vitro and tumor growth in vivo

Breast cancer remains a major cause of cancer-related death in women worldwide. Dysregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) is involved in the initiation and progression of breast cancer. Moreover, it was found that GIT1 was widely involved in the development of many human cancers. Herein, we aimed to investigate the expression changes of miR-149* and GIT1 and the functional effects of miR-149*/GIT1 link in breast cancer. Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blot (WB) were used to examine the expression levels of miR-149* and GIT1. Dual luciferase reporter assay was utilized to confirm the target interaction between miR-149* and GIT1. The biological functions, including cell proliferation, invasion, and migration, of miR-149* and GIT1 were determined by MTT assay and Transwell assays, respectively. Eventually, the tumor xenograft model in nude mice injected with stable transfected MDA-MB-231 cells was established to verify the effects of miR-149* and GIT1 on tumor growth. Our results showed that miR-149* expression was decreased, whereas GIT1 expression was increased in clinical samples of breast cancer. Based on the inverse expression trend between miR-149* and GIT1, we further demonstrated that miR-149* indeed directly targets GIT1. Subsequently, it was observed that inhibition of miR-149* significantly promoted cell proliferation, invasion, and migration, but the ability of cell proliferation, invasion, and migration was obviously declined after silencing of GIT1 in MDA-MB-231 cells transfected with miR-149* mimic and/or si-GIT1. Finally, it was also found that elevated miR-149* decelerated the tumor growth, while restored GIT1 accelerated the tumor growth in nude mice after 35 days of tumor xenograft. Collectively, these findings concluded that miR-149* might exert a tumor suppressive role in breast cancer by targeting GIT1.