miR-373-3p promotes lung adenocarcinoma cell proliferation via APP

Previous studies have indicated that lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is one of the common human malignancies, and its incidence keeps rising. With the help of microarray technology, downregulation of miR-373-3p was observed in LUAD tissues compared with normal lung tissues. Notably, the present study demonstrated that the expression of amyloid precursor protein (APP) mRNA in LUAD tissues was overexpressed compared with adjacent tissues. Bioinformatic analysis demonstrated that miR-373-3p may interact with the 3′ untranslated region of APP mRNA, and then western blot and dual-luciferase reporter gene assays were employed to verify the interaction. Finally, CCK-8 assays were used to measure the tumor-suppressing effect of miR-373-3p on A549 and it was demonstrated that overexpression of miR-373-3p may more effectively inhibit the proliferation of A549 compared with APP si-RNA. Overall, the findings suggest that miR-373-3p downregulation partly accounts for APP overexpression and leads to a promotion of cell growth in LUAD. miR-373-3p may therefore act as a valuable target in potential anticancer strategies to treat LUAD.