MiR-200a-3p promoted the malignant behaviors of ovarian cancer cells through regulating PCDH9

BACKGROUND: Increasing evidence has revealed that the aberrant expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) plays vital roles in the development and progression of ovarian cancer. MiR-200a-3p was found to act as an oncogene in a variety of cancers, however, the expression and function of miR-200a-3p in ovarian cancer has not been characterized. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The expression of miR-200a-3p in ovarian cancer tissues and cell lines was detected by the RT-qPCR. The influence of miR-200a-3p on the growth of ovarian cancer cells was determined with the Cell Counting Kit-8 assay, colony formation and cell invasion assay. The binding of miR-200a-3p with the 3ʹ-untranslated region (UTR) of PDCH9 was detected by luciferase reporter assay. The expression of PCDH9 was investigated by RT-qPCR and Western blot analysis. RESULTS: miR-200a-3p was up-regulated in ovarian cancer tissues and cell lines. Highly expressed miR-200a-3p was significantly associated with the tumor size, tumor metastasis and TNM stage. Overexpression of miR-200a-3p markedly promoted the proliferation, colony formation and invasion of ovarian cancer cells. Functional study uncovered that miR-200a-3p bound the 3ʹ-untranslated region (UTR) of PCDH9 and decreased the expression of PCDH9 in ovarian cancer cells. The expression of miR-200a-3p in ovarian cancer tissues was significantly negatively correlated with that of PCDH9. Restored PCDH9 inhibited the promoting effect of miR-200a-3p on the proliferation of ovarian cancer cells. CONCLUSION: Our results suggested the potential oncogenic function of miR-200a-3p via modulating PCDH9 in ovarian cancer.