miR-145-5p Regulates the Proliferation, Migration and Invasion in Cervical Carcinoma by Targeting KLF5

OBJECTIVE: Cervical carcinoma (CC) is a serious threat to women’s health and few effective therapeutic methods have been discovered. The purpose of this study is to explore the underlying mechanism of miR-145-5p in CC. METHODS: Bioinformatics methods were employed to analyze the gene expression data of CC from TCGA database. qRT-PCR was used to detect the expression of miR-145-5p and KLF5 in CC cells, and Western blot was employed for the examination of KLF5 protein level. The targeted relationship between miR-145-5p and KLF5 was verified by a dual-luciferase reporter assay. Moreover, CCK-8, wound healing assay and transwell invasion assay were used to analyze the effects of miR-145-5p overexpression or KLF5 silencing on the proliferation, migration and invasion of CC cells. RESULTS: miR-145-5p was shown to be down-regulated in CC tissues and cells, while KLF5 was up-regulated. miR-145-5p could bind to the complementary sequence within the wild type KLF5 3ʹUTR rather than the mutant one. In addition, miR-145-5p could effectively down-regulate KLF5, in turn inhibiting the proliferation, migration and invasion of CC cells. CONCLUSION: miR-145-5p regulates the proliferation, migration and invasion of CC cells by targeting KLF5.