Let-7b contributes to hepatocellular cancer progression through wnt β-catenin signaling

Abstract EN

Elevated evidences show that microRNAs (miRNAs) play vital roles in tumor progression regulation.

However, the functional role of let-7b in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still largely unknown.

In this study, we try to investigate the biological activity of let-7b in human HCC cells and try to find the potential regulatory signaling pathway.

Our results indicate that let- 7b was remarkably down-regulated in human HCC tissues by qRT-PCR.

In addition, let-7b overexpression decreased the expression of bcatenin and c-Myc, while upregulated E-cadherin expression in HCC cells which was verified by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and western blotting.

Furthermore, Wnt/b-catenin was involved in let-7b biological activity which was revealed by luciferase assay.

Moreover, Wnt/b-catenin signaling inhibitor blocks HCC cell proliferation which is as the same pattern as let-7b overexpression inhibits in HCC cells proliferation.

In conclusion, down-regulated let-7b promotes HCC cell proliferation through Wnt/bcatenin signaling in HCC cells.

These results suggested that appropriate manipulation of let-7b might be a new treatment of human HCC in the future