MiR-133a-3p inhibits the malignant progression of esophageal cancer by targeting CDCA8.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE\nTo explore the interaction between miR-133a-3p and CDCA8 in esophageal cancer (EC) and their effect on malignant behavior of EC cells.\n\n\nMETHODS\nDifferential miRNAs and mRNAs were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression levels of miR-133a-3p and CDCA8 mRNA in EC cells. Western blot was used to detect the expression of CDCA8 protein. CCK-8, flow cytometry, and Transwell assays were conducted to detect cell proliferation, cell cycle and apoptosis, as well as migration and invasion, respectively. The targeting relationship between miR-133a-3p and CDCA8 was verified by dual-luciferase reporter gene assay.\n\n\nRESULTS\nIn EC, miR-133a-3p expression was evidently low and CDCA8 expression was prominently high. MiR-133a-3p down-regulated CDCA8 expression. A range of cell function experiments revealed that CDCA8 promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of EC cells, reduced cell cycle arrest in G0/G1 phase and inhibited cell apoptosis, while miR-133a-3p could reverse the above effects by regulating CDCA8.\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nMiR-133a-3p is a crucial tumor suppressor miRNA in EC, playing a tumor suppressor role by targeting CDCA8.