MicroRNA-630 may confer favorable cisplatin-based chemotherapy and clinical outcomes in non-small cell lung cancer by targeting Bcl-2

// Ming-Jenn Chen 1, 2, * , De-Wei Wu 3, * , Gao-Chang Wang 3 , Yao-Chen Wang 4, 6 , Chi-Yi Chen 5, 6 and Huei Lee 3 1 Department of Surgery, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan, ROC 2 Department of Sports Management, College of Leisure and Recreation Management, Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan, Taiwan, ROC 3 Graduate Institute of Cancer Biology and Drug Discovery, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC 4 Department of Internal Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC 5 Department of Surgery, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC 6 School of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Huei Lee, email: hl@tmu.edu.tw Keywords: Micro-630; Bcl-2; cisplatin; chemotherapy; NSCLC Received: July 26, 2017      Accepted: February 03, 2018      Published: February 09, 2018 ABSTRACT MicroRNA-630 (miR-630) plays dual roles in tumor progression in various human cancers. However, the role of miR-630 in chemoresistance and prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains to be elucidated. This retrospective study enrolled 114 surgically resected patients with NSCLC who experienced tumor relapse and underwent cisplatin-based chemotherapy. The aim was to examine the possible association between miR-630 (and its targeting of Bcl-2 expression) and the response to cisplatin-based chemotherapy. Patients with tumors expressing low miR-630, high Bcl-2, and a combination of both were more likely than their counterparts to show unfavorable responses to cisplatin-based chemotherapy. Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression analysis indicated that low miR-630, high Bcl-2, and a combination of both may independently predict poor overall survival and short relapse-free survival in patients with NSCLC. Six types of NSCLC cells were collected to determine the inhibitory concentration of cisplatin yielding 50% viability (IC50) by the MTT assay. The IC50 value for cisplatin was negatively correlated with miR-630 expression levels among these cell types, except for A549 cells. Mechanistically, low miR-630 expression conferred cisplatin resistance and colony formation by de-targeting Bcl-2 in NSCLC cells. We therefore suggest that low miR-630, high Bcl-2, and a combination of both may potentially predict an unfavorable chemotherapeutic response and poor outcome in patients with NSCLC.