MicroRNA-92a regulates the development of cutaneous malignant melanoma by mediating FOXP1

H.-W. Sun, G.-L. Yang, S.-N. Wang, Y.-J. Zhang, J.-X. Ding, X.-N. Zhang

Department of Dermatology, The People’s Hospital of Pingliang, Pingliang, China. drgly2006@126.com

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• Oncology

OBJECTIVE: MicroRNAs are noncoding RNAs which are involved in the occurrence and progression of tumors. This study aims to explore the role of microRNA-92a in cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) and its underlying mechanism.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: The expression level of microRNA-92a in 75 pairs of CMM tissues and paracancerous tissues was determined using quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR). The correlation between microRNA-92a expression with clinical data of CMM patients was analyzed. Besides, microRNA-92a expression in CMM cells and primary epidermal melanocytes (PEM) was determined by qRT-PCR as well. After transfection of si-microRNA-92a in CMM cells, biological performances of CMM were determined using cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), colony formation and transwell assay, respectively. FOXP1 expression in CMM cells and tissues was determined using Western blot. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were drawn to explore the correlation between the FOXP1 expression and prognosis of CMM patients.
RESULTS: MicroRNA-92a was highly expressed in CMM tissues compared with that of paracancerous tissues. Compared with CMM patients with lower expression of microRNA-92a, those with higher expression of microRNA-92a presented higher tumor stage, higher incidences of lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis, as well as lower overall survival. The knockdown of microRNA-92a remarkably decreased proliferative, invasive and metastatic capacities of CMM cells. Western blot results elucidated that microRNA-92a knockdown in CMM cells upregulates FOXP1 expression. Additionally, rescue experiments showed that mi-croRNA-92a regulates biological performances of CMM cells by regulating FOXP1.
CONCLUSIONS: MicroRNA-92a is highly expressed in CMM, which is remarkably correlated to tumor stage and poor prognosis of CMM patients. We found that microRNA-92a pro-motes malignant progression of CMM by regulating FOXP1.

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