[miR-181c promotes the migration and angiogenesis of human A549 cells via targeting inhibition of reversion-inducing cysteine-rich protein with Kazal motifs (RECK)].

Objective To investigate the impact of miR-181c on migration and angiogenesis of lung cancer cells. Methods The Oncomine platform, UALCAN was used to analyze the differential expression of miR-181c and reversion-inducing cysteine-rich protein with Kazal motifs (RECK) in lung cancer obtained from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. The targeting relationship between miR-181c on RECK gene was predicted using Targetscan software. miR-181c mimic, inhibitor and negative control were introduced into A549 cells respectively. After transfection, the real-time quantitative PCR was used to detect the relative expressions of miR-181c and RECK mRNA, and Western blot analysis was used to detect the expression levels of RECK, matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2) and MMP9 proteins. Transwell assay was performed to analyze the cell migration ability. The secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A in the cell culture supernatant was analyzed by using ELISA. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were treated with the culture supernatant, then in vitro tubule formation assay was carried out to evaluate the angiogenesis ability. The targeting correlation between miR-181c and RECK was validated by double luciferase reporter gene assay. Results UALCAN analysis displayed that the expression of miR-181c was significantly higher and RECK expression was significantly lower in lung cancer tissues compared to that in normal tissues. Targetscan prediction showed that there was a miR-181c binding site in the 3'-untranslated region (3' UTR) of RECK gene. miR-181c could downregulate the expression of RECK, increase the expressions of MMP2 and MMP9, and promote the A549 cell migration. ELISA and tubule formation assay showed that miR-181c could induce the secretion of VEGF-A in A549 cells and enhance the ability of HUVECs differentiae into tubules. The double luciferase reporter gene assay confirmed that RECK was the direct regulation target of miR-181c. Conclusion miR-181c promotes the migration and angiogenesis of human A549 cells by directly targeting RECK.