miR-654-3p predicts the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma and inhibits the proliferation, migration, and invasion of cancer cells
Junsheng Yang, Zhen Zhang, Shaoping Chen, Wenwen Dou, Ruizhu Xie, Jie Gao
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Increasing evidence reveals that aberrant microRNAs (miRNAs) expression play a crucial role in the tumorigenesis of cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), whereas the role of miR-654-3p in HCC remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the role of miR-654-3p in HCC. METHODS: Real-time quantitative PCR was performed to detect miR-654-3p expression in HCC tissues and cell lines. The association of miR-654-3p expression with clinical characteristics of HCC patients were analyzed. And the prognostic value of miR-654-3p was examined using Kaplan-Meier curve and Cox regression analysis. CCK-8 and Transwell assays were used to observe the effects of miR-654-3p on proliferation, migration, and invasion of HCC cells. RESULTS: The miR-654-3p expression was downregulated in both HCC tissues and cell lines, which was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis and TNM stage. Downregulation of miR-654-3p predicted poor prognosis of HCC patients. Overexpression of miR-654-3p inhibited HCC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, while knockdown of miR-654-3p promoted these cellular behaviors in vitro. CONCLUSION: Our study suggested that miR-654-3p expression was downregulated in HCC and might serve as a potential prognostic marker and therapeutic target for the survival of HCC patients. miR-654-3p might exert a suppressor role in HCC through inhibiting tumor cell proliferation, migration, and invasion.