Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 7, 2017; 23(45): 7965-7977
Published online Dec 7, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i45.7965
Down-regulation of miR-30a-3p/5p promotes esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cell proliferation by activating the Wnt signaling pathway
Bo Qi, Yan Wang, Zhi-Jun Chen, Xiang-Nan Li, Yu Qi, Yang Yang, Guang-Hui Cui, Hai-Zhou Guo, Wei-Hao Li, Song Zhao
Bo Qi, Xiang-Nan Li, Yu Qi, Yang Yang, Guang-Hui Cui, Hai-Zhou Guo, Wei-Hao Li, Song Zhao, Department of Thoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, Henan Province, China
Bo Qi, Zhi-Jun Chen, Department of Thoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Weihui 453100, Henan Province, China
Yan Wang, Periodicals Publishing House, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang 453003, Henan Province, China
Author contributions: Qi B and Zhao S contributed to the conception and design of the study; Chen ZJ, Li XN, Qi Y, Yang Y and Cui GH provided the animals and collected and managed the patients; Wang Y, Guo HZ, and Li WH performed statistical analysis and computational analysis; Qi B, Wang Y, and Zhao S wrote, reviewed, and made critical revision of the manuscript.
Supported by the Youth Fund of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University (Type A-4).
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Xinxiang Medical University Institutional Review Board.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All procedures involving animals were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Xinxiang Medical University (IACUC protocol number: 2015033).
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors of this manuscript have no conflict of interest to disclose.
Data sharing statement: Participants gave informed consent for data sharing. No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Song Zhao, PhD, Department of Thoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, No. 1, Jianshe East Road, Zhengzhou 450000, Henan Province, China. zhaosong@zzu.edu.cn
Telephone: +86-373-66964536 Fax: +86-373-66970906
Received: August 9, 2017
Peer-review started: August 10, 2017
First decision: September 10, 2017
Revised: September 26, 2017
Accepted: October 26, 2017
Article in press: October 26, 2017
Published online: December 7, 2017
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

MicroRNA-30a (miR-30a) serves as a post-transcriptional regulator by directly targeting mRNAs in many biological processes, and it shows multiple roles in different kinds of cancer. Wnt signaling pathway is well known in the development and progression of various cancers. MiR-30a was recently found to be closely associated with Wnt signaling pathway in cancers; however, the potential role and underlying mechanism of miR-30a in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) have not been illustrated.

Research motivation

To investigate the potential role of microRNA-30a (miR-30a) in ESCC.

Research objectives

The study investigated the potential role of microRNA-30a (miR-30a) in ESCC, which is urgent and essential for developing early diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

Research methods

Expression of miR-30a-3p/5p was analyzed using microarray data and fresh ESCC tissue samples. Both in vitro and in vivo assays were used to investigate the effects of miR-30a-3p/5p on ESCC cell proliferation. Furthermore, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis was performed to explore underlying mechanisms involved in ESCC, and then, assays were carried out to verify the potential molecular mechanism of microRNA-30a (miR-30a) in ESCC.

Research results

Low expression of miR-30a-3p/5p was closely associated with advanced ESCC progression and poor prognosis of patients with ESCC. Knock-down of miR-30a-3p/5p promoted ESCC cell proliferation. We further demonstrated that increased miR-30a-3p/5p expression inhibited the Wnt signaling pathway by targeting Wnt2 and Fzd2.

Research conclusions

Down-regulation of miR-30a-3p/5p promotes ESCC cell proliferation by activating the Wnt signaling pathway through inhibition of Wnt2 and Fzd2.

Research perspectives

This study will provide an example for investigating the relationship between the expression of microRNAs and ESCC prognosis and the underlying mechanisms of the Wnt signaling pathway in ESCC. The direction of the future research is to provide more evidence for developing novel strategies by targeting microRNA-30a in ESCC. In our future research, the long-acting microRNA-30a will be used to treat the ESCC cells or animal models, and to observe the inhibitory effect of microRNA-30a on ESCC cells.