miR-410 induces both epithelial–mesenchymal transition and radioresistance through activation of the PI3K/mTOR pathway in non-small cell lung cancer

Radiotherapy remains one of the major treatments for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients; whereas intrinsic or acquired radioresistance limits its efficacy. Nevertheless, most studies so far have only focused on acquired resistance. The exact mechanisms of intrinsic radioresistance in NSCLC are still unclear. A few studies have suggested that epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) is associated with radioresistance in NSCLC. However, little is known about whether the abnormal expression of specific microRNAs induces both EMT and radioresistance. We previously found that miR-410 has multiple roles as an oncomiRNA in NSCLC. In this study, we revealed that miR-410 overexpression promoted EMT and radioresistance, accompanied by enhanced DNA damage repair both in vitro and in vivo. Conversely, knockdown of miR-410 showed the opposite effects. We further demonstrated that PTEN was a direct target of miR-410 by using bioinformatic tools and dual-luciferase reporter assays, and the miR-410-induced EMT and radioresistance were reversed by PI3K, Akt, and mTOR inhibitors or by restoring the expression of PTEN in NSCLC cells. In addition, we preliminarily found that the expression of miR-410 was positively correlated with EMT and negatively associated with the expression of PTEN in NSCLC specimens. In summary, these results demonstrated that miR-410 is an important regulator on enhancing both NSCLC EMT and radioresistance by targeting the PTEN/PI3K/mTOR axis. The findings suggest that miR-410-induced EMT might significantly contribute to the enhanced radioresistance. Therefore, miR-410 may serve as a potential biomarker or therapeutic target for NSCLC radiotherapy.