MicroRNA-27b functions as a new inhibitor of ovarian cancer-mediated vasculogenic mimicry through suppression of expression.

Aggressive cancer cells gain robust tumor vascular mimicry (VM) capability that promotes tumor growth and metastasis. is aberrantly overexpressed in vasculogenic cancer cells and regarded as a master gene of tumor VM. Although microRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in modulating tumor angiogenesis and cancer metastasis, the miRNA that targets expression in cancer cells to inhibit tumor cell-mediated VM is enigmatic. In this study, we found that miR-27b levels are negatively co-related to expression in ovarian cancer cells and tumor cell-mediated VM, and demonstrated that miR-27b could bind to the 3'-untranslated region (3'UTR) of mRNA. Overexpression of miR-27b in aggressive ovarian cancer cell lines Hey1B and ES2 significantly diminished intracellular expression; convincingly, the inhibitory effect of miR-27b could be reversed by miR-27b specific inhibitor. Intriguingly, miR-27b not only effectively suppressed ovarian cancer cell migration and invasion, but also markedly inhibited formation of ovarian cancer cell-mediated capillary-like structures in vitro and suppressed generation of functional tumor blood vessels in mice. Together, our study suggests that miR-27b functions as a new inhibitor of ovarian cancer cell-mediated VM through suppression of expression, providing a new potential drug candidate for antitumor VM and anti-ovarian cancer therapy.