miR-940 Suppresses Tumor Cell Invasion and Migration via Regulation of CXCR2 in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract EN

Aim.

To investigate the expression of miR-940 in the hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its impact on function and biological mechanism in the HCC cells.

Methods.

Quantitative RT-PCR analysis was used to quantify miR-940 expression in 46 cases of tissues and cells.

Transfection of HCC cell lines was performed by miR-940 mimics; the abilities of invasion and migration were assessed through Transwell array.

Western blot represents the alteration in expression of CXCR2 by miR-940 mimics.

Results.

miR-940 expression was decreased significantly in the HCC tissues and the relevant cell lines.

miR-940 upregulation suppressed the invasion and migration of HCC cells in vitro.

Furthermore, the CXCR2 was downregulated to suppress invasion and migration after miR-940 mimics.

Moreover, decreased miR-940 expression was negatively correlated with Edmondson grade (P=0.008), tumor microsatellite or multiple tumors (P=0.04), vascular invasion (P=0.035), and recurrence and metastasis (P=0.038).

Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that decreased miR-940 expression contributed to poor overall survival (P<0.05).

Conclusions.

Our findings present that miR-940 acts as a pivotal adaptor of CXCR2 and its transcription downregulated CXCR2 expression to decrease HCC invasion and migration in vitro.

Our study suggests that miR-940 may be a novel poor prognostic biomarker for HCC.