miR-206 inhibits metastasis-relevant traits by degrading MRTF-A in anaplastic thyroid cancer.

Thyroid cancer develops from follicular or parafollicular thyroid cells. A higher proportion of anaplastic thyroid cancer has an adverse prognosis. New drugs are being used in clinical treatment. However, for advanced thyroid malignant neoplasm such as anaplastic thyroid carcinoma, the major impediment to successful control of the disease is the absence of effective therapies. Elucidating molecular mechanism of the disease will help us to further understand the pathogenesis and progression of the disease and offer new targets for effective therapies. In this study, we found that MRTF-A expression was upregulated in metastatic anaplastic thyroid cancer tissues, compared with primary cancer tissues and it promoted metastasis-relevant traits in vitro. miR-206 was negatively associated with metastasis in anaplastic cancer and it degraded MRTF-A by targeting its 3'-UTR in ARO anaplastic thyroid cancer cells. In addition, miR-206 overexpression inhibited invasion and migration and silencing miR-206-promoted migration and invasion in the cells. Important, restoration of MRTF-A could abrogate miR-206-mediated migration and invasion regulation. Thus, we concluded that miR-206 inhibited invasion and metastasis by degrading MRTF-A in anaplastic thyroid cancer.