MicroRNA-4287 is a novel tumor suppressor microRNA controlling epithelial-to mesenchymal transition in prostate cancer

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a significant cause of male morbidity in the United States. Despite recent advances in diagnosis and therapeutic interventions, significant fraction of cases still progress to an advanced stage. Various genetic/epigenetic elements that facilitate this progression are not yet completely known and the mechanism that favors advanced disease is an area of investigation. A characteristic feature associated with progressive disease is deletion of chromosome 8p (chr8p) region, that harbors tumor-suppressor NKX3.1. Previous studies from our group has shown that there are cluster of microRNAs (miRNAs) located within this region whose loss favors advanced, metastatic disease. miR-4287 is a novel miRNA located within this region that has not been studied before. In the present study, we analyzed the role of miR-4287 in PCa using clinical tissues and cell lines. We observed that miR-4287 is significantly downregulated in patient-derived tumor tissues. Receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis showed that miR-4287 distinguishes prostate cancer from normal with a specificity of 88.24% and with an Area under the curve (AUC) of 0.66. Further, we found that miR-4287 levels correlate inversely with patients’ serum prostate-specific antigen levels. Ectopic over-expression of miR-4287 in PCa cell lines showed that miR-4287 plays a tumor suppressor role. miR-4287 led to an increase in G2/M phase of cell cycle in PCa cell lines. Further, ectopic miR-4287 inhibited PCa epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) by directly repressing SLUG and stem cell marker CD44. Since miR-4287 specifically targets metastasis pathway mediators, miR-4287 has potential diagnostic and therapeutic significance in preventing advanced, metastatic disease.