Significant role of miR-663b in bladder cancer and its potential mechanism

Objective: The present study aimed to explore the role and underlying molecular mechanism of miR-663b in the progression of bladder cancer. Materials and Methods: The miR-663b expression in human bladder cancer tissues and cell lines was measured by qRT-PCR. We used TargetScan to predict the potential targets of miR-663b, and dualluciferase reporter assay was applied to reveal our prediction. CCK-8 was used for cell proliferation detection, and cell apoptosis was analysed by flow cytometry. In addition, western blotting was carried out to detect the related protein expression. Results: The findings suggested that miR-663b was up-regulated in both bladder cancer tissues and cell lines. TUSC2 is a direct target of miR-663b, and is negatively regulated by miR-663b. MiR-663b downregulation significantly reduced the proliferation ability of T24 cells, and T24 cell apoptosis was markedly induced. In addition, miR-663b down-regulation enhanced the expression level of p53 and p21 in T24 cells. Moreover, we found that the changes caused by miR-663b inhibitor in T24 cells were eliminated by TUSC2 gene silencing. Conclusions: Down-regulation of miR-663b prevented proliferation and induced apoptosis in bladder cancer cells by directly targeting TUSC2. Therefore, we provide a novel promising therapeutic target for bladder cancer treatment.