Department of Burn and Plastic Surgery, The First People's Hospital of Nantong, Nantong, 226001 China.
Department of Clinical Laboratory, The First People's Hospital of Nantong, Nantong, 226001 China.
Cell Mol Biol Lett. 2019 Mar 8;24:9. doi: 10.1186/s11658-018-0131-z. eCollection 2019.
Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) is a common type of skin malignancy. MicroRNA-221 (miRNA-221) is a critical non-coding RNA in tumor initiation and progression. However, the molecular mechanisms of miRNA-221 in the development of CSCC remain unknown. This study investigated the expression of miRNA-221 in CSCC and its potential tumor biological functions.
MTT assay, colony assay, PCR, and Western blot were adopted.
In this study, miRNA-221 expression was significantly higher in CSCC tissues and cell lines than in normal tissues and cells ( < 0.05). Further functional experiments indicated that miRNA-221 knockdown inhibited the proliferation and cell cycle, while upregulation of miRNA-221 presented the opposite role. The dual reporter gene assays indicated that PTEN is a direct target gene of miRNA-221. PTEN protein or mRNA levels were decreased after the cells were transfected with miR-221 mimics.
Taken together, the obtained results indicated that miR-221 plays an oncogenic function in CSCC by targeting PTEN and further suggest that miR-221 may be a potential target for CSCC diagnosis and treatment.
皮肤鳞状细胞癌（CSCC）是一种常见的皮肤恶性肿瘤。微小 RNA-221（miRNA-221）是肿瘤起始和进展过程中关键的非编码 RNA。然而，miRNA-221 在 CSCC 发展中的分子机制尚不清楚。本研究旨在探讨 miRNA-221 在 CSCC 中的表达及其潜在的肿瘤生物学功能。
采用 MTT 检测、集落形成实验、PCR 和 Western blot 检测。
本研究表明，CSCC 组织和细胞系中的 miRNA-221 表达明显高于正常组织和细胞（<0.05）。进一步的功能实验表明，miRNA-221 下调抑制了细胞的增殖和细胞周期，而上调 miRNA-221 则呈现相反的作用。双荧光素酶报告基因实验表明，PTEN 是 miRNA-221 的直接靶基因。转染 miR-221 模拟物后，PTEN 蛋白或 mRNA 水平降低。
综上所述，研究结果表明，miRNA-221 通过靶向 PTEN 在 CSCC 中发挥致癌作用，进一步提示 miR-221 可能是 CSCC 诊断和治疗的潜在靶点。
