MicroRNA-382 inhibits cancer cell growth and metastasis in NSCLC via targeting LMO3

Recent studies have revealed a pivotal role of microRNAs (miRs) in regulating the initiation and development of multiple types of cancer. In the present study, it was discovered that miR-382 may be an important tumor suppressor in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). It was demonstrated that miR-382 expression was downregulated in tumor tissues from patients with NSCLC compared with adjacent normal tissues. Furthermore, overexpression of miR-382 suppressed cell proliferation and cell migration of NSCLC cells. In addition, reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and the luciferase reporter assay revealed that LIM-only protein 3 (LMO3), an oncogene, acted as a direct target gene of miR-382. Notably, overexpression of miR-382 did not alter cell proliferation or migration in LMO3-silenced A549 cells. Furthermore, analysis of patient tissues indicated an elevation of LMO3 expression in tumor tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues and a negative association between miR-382 and LMO3 mRNA expression levels. Taken together, the present findings indicated that miR-382 inhibited NSCLC cell proliferation and metastasis by targeting LMO3, suggesting a tumor suppressor role of miR-382 in NSCLC.