MicroRNA-32 (miR-32) regulates phosphatase and tensin homologue (PTEN) expression and promotes growth, migration, and invasion in colorectal carcinoma cells.

Background: Colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality worldwide. MicroRNAs (miRNAs, miRs) play important roles in carcinogenesis. MiR-32 has been shown to be upregulated in CRC. In this study, we identified the potential effects of miR-32 on some important biological properties of CRC cells, and clarified the regulation of PTEN by miR-32.

Methods: The effect of miR-32 on PTEN expression was assessed in CRC cell lines with miR-32 mimics/inhibitor to increase/decrease miR-32 expression. Furthermore, the roles of miR-32 in regulating CRC cells biological properties were analyzed with miR-32 mimics/inhibitor-transfected cells. The 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) of PTEN combined with miR-32 was verified by dual-luciferase reporter assay.

Results: Gain-of-function and loss-of-function studies showed that overexpression of miR-32 promoted SW480 cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, reduced apoptosis, and resulted in downregulation of PTEN at a posttranscriptional level. However, miR-32 knock-down inhibited these processes in HCT-116 cells and enhanced the expression of PTEN protein. In addition, we further identified PTEN as the functional downstream target of miR-32 by directly targeting the 3'-UTR of PTEN.

Conclusions: Our results demonstrated that miR-32 was involved in tumorigenesis of CRC at least in part by suppression of PTEN.