miR-224 targets BTRC and promotes cell migration and invasion in colorectal cancer
Qi Zheng, Jane Yu, Chenggang Li, Jiali Li, Jiping Wang, Shuyang Wang
Abstract
Abstract Our study aims to investigate the impact of miR-224 on cell migration and invasion in colorectal cancer (CRC) as well as its molecular mechanisms. The results showed that miR-224 was significantly upregulated in CRC compared to normal tissues via the TCGA database. Overexpression of miR-224 promoted CRC cell migration and invasion, while inhibition of miR-224 demonstrated the opposite result via transwell assays. In addition, we found that BTRC was a target gene of miR-224 through the miRecords database and dual-luciferase assay, while western blot together with RT-qPCR showed that inhibition of miR-224 led to elevated BTRC expression in protein level but not in mRNA level, and also decreased the expression of β-catenin. In reference to the Human Protein Atlas, BTRC protein expression was higher in normal tissues than in CRC tissues. In conclusion, miR-224 regulates its target BTRC protein expression and its related Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Its impact on cell migration and invasion in CRC cells suggested that miR-224 could be a prospective therapeutic target for early-stage non-metastatic CRC.