miR-378d suppresses malignant phenotype of ESCC cells through AKT signaling

BACKGROUND: Post-resistance progress in paclitaxel (PTX) treatment remains a major challenge in tumor treatment. A high dose of PTX was used for cell lines to analyze the changes in molecular expression. The miR-378d was sharply reduced in surviving cells, but the role of miR-378d in Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remained unclear. METHODS: We analyzed the relationship between miR-378d expression and the clinicopathological features of ESCC. We constructed miR-378d silent expression cell lines to study phenotypes and molecular mechanisms. RESULTS: The miR-378d expression was associated with good prognosis in patients with ESCC. miR-378d inhibition promoted chemo-resistance, monoclonal formation, EMT, migration, invasion, stemness, and metastasis of ESCC cells. miR-378d can target downregulated AKT1. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, miR-378d expression is a good prognostic factor of patients with ESCC and regulates the malignant phenotype of tumor cells through AKT. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12935-021-02403-y.