miR-141 inhibits prostatic cancer cell proliferation and migration, and induces cell apoptosis via targeting of RUNX1.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most commonly diagnosed male malignancy and the second leading cause of male cancer-related deaths. miR-141 has been demonstrated to be inversely correlated with tumorigenicity. In the present study, we investigated the effect of miR-141 and runt-related transcription factor 1 (RUNX1) on PCa cells. We determined that miR-141 was expressed at a low level and RUNX1 was expressed at a high level in PCa tissues in comparison to that in adjacent normal tissues. Upregulation of miR-141 significantly inhibited cell growth, migration and invasion, and promoted cell apoptosis in PCa cells. Furthermore, miR-141 overexpression suppressed the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9, and increased the expression of FOXO1 and p21. However, overexpression of RUNX1 could antagonize the effects of miR-141 on PCa cells. Our findings demonstrated that miR-141 could suppress cell growth, migration and invasion and induce cell apoptosis by targeting RUNX1 in PCa cells. Thus, miR-141/RUNX1 play critical roles in the progression of PCa and may be promising targets for the diagnosis and treatment of PCa.