miR-137 is frequently down-regulated in gastric cancer and is a negative regulator of Cdc42.

Dig Dis Sci

Department of Medicine-Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhengzhou University, 1 East Jianshe Road, 450000, Zhengzhou, People's Republic of China.

Published: July 2011

Introduction: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small (19-25 nucleotides) noncoding RNAs that regulate the expressions of a wide variety of genes, including some involved in cancer development. Some recent studies show that DNA methylation contributes to down-regulation of microRNA-137 (miR-137) during tumorigenesis. Whether down-regulation of miR-137 also exists in gastric cancer is unknown.

Aim: Our aim was to test the hypothesis that down-regulation of miR-137 also exists in gastric cancer.

Methods: Expression of levels of miR-137 were examined using real-time PCR on paired gastric cancer and adjacent non-cancerous tissues. The methylation status is detected by MSP.

Results: Results show that miR-137 is downregulated by hypermethylation of the promoter in gastric cancer tissues. Epigenetic silencing of miR-137 induced an up-regulation of its targets, Cdc42. Restoration of the miR-137 expression in gastric cancer cell lines downregulated the Cdc42 expression. Restoration of the miR-137 and inactivation of Cdc42 induce apoptosis and cell cycle G1 arrest in gastric cancer cells. Furthermore, the miR-137 expression was found to be inversely correlated with CDC42 expression in gastric caner.

Conclusions: miR-137 is frequently down-regulated in gastric cancer and is a negative regulator of Cdc42.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10620-010-1536-3DOI Listing

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