MiR-96-5p promotes breast cancer migration by activating MEK/ERK signaling.

Background: Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the potential role of miR-96-5p in breast cancer.

Methods: Breast cancer tissues and matched para-cancerous tissues were collected. The expression of microRNA-96-5p (miR-96-5p) and arginine kinase 3 (AK3) was detected by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). The correlation between miR-96-5p and AK3 was calculated by Pearson's Chi-square test. Moreover, mimics or inhibitors of miR-96-5p were applied to explore whether miR-96-5p influences the migration capacity in Transwell and wound healing assays. Bioinformatics analysis was performed to identify the target genes of miR-96-5p through the TargetScan, miRDB and miRanda databases. A luciferase reporter assay was performed to verify AK3 as a downstream target gene of miR-96-5p.

Results: The expression of miR-96-5p was significantly increased in breast cancer tissue and breast cancer cell lines compared with para-cancerous tissue and a breast cell line, respectively. The expression of miR-96-5p negatively correlated with AK3 gene expression. AK3 was demonstrated to be a direct mRNA target of miR-96-5p. AK3 was positively associated with the overall survival of breast cancer patients. Kaplan-Meier curve and log rank test analyses revealed that decreased AK3 levels were significantly associated with reduced overall survival. miR-96-5p was shown to promote the migration of breast cancer cells through the MEK/ERK signaling pathway.

Conclusion: Our results identify a role for miR-96-5p in promoting breast cancer cell migration through activation of MEK/ERK signaling by targeting AK3.