Aidi injection alters the expression profiles of microRNAs in human breast cancer cells.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the effects of Aidi Injection on the MicroRNAs (miRNA) expression profiles in human breast cancer cells and explore the potential targets of the cancer treatment.

METHODS

MCF-7 breast cancer cells were grown in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with different concentrations of ADI. The inhibition of cell proliferation was measured by MTT assay. MCF-7 cells were treated by ADI with above 50% inhibiting concentration (IC50) for 48 h. The expression profiles of miRNA in ADI-treated and ADI-untreated MCF-7 cells were detected with miRNA microarray chips and the array data were verified by quantitative RT-PCR. MCF-7 cells were transiently transfected with miRNA mimics by liposome method. Potential mRNA targets were predicted by informatics analysis with TargetScan and PicTar software.

RESULTS

ADI significantly inhibited the proliferation of MCF-7 cells in a dose-dependent manner. The IC50 of ADI was 55.71 mg/mL after treatment for 48 h. The 60 mg/mL ADI was used as the therapeutic drug concentration. Microarray analysis identified 45 miRNAs that were up-regulated and 55 miRNAs that were down-regulated in response to ADI treatment. Many ADI-induced miRNAs were related to breast cancers. The microarray data were validated by qRT-PCR. Ectopic expression of 100 nmol/L mir-126 mimics significantly inhibited the proliferation of MCF-7 cells. The 12 potential target genes of mir-126 were predicted by both TargetScan and PicTar software.

CONCLUSIONS

The miRNA may serve as therapeutic targets, and the modulation of miRNA expression is an important mechanism of ADI inhibiting breast cancer cell growth.