[miR-135b promotes the invasion and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells].

Abstract Objective To explore the effect of miR-135b on the invasion and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells and the underlying molecular mechanism. Methods The invasive and metastasis abilities were detected by Transwell(TM) assay in hepatocellular carcinoma cells with over-expressed or down-regulated miR135b. The hepatocellular carcinoma cell growth and tumor formation abilities in vivo were examined by xenograft model. Downstream genes targeted by miR-135b were detected by Western blotting and dual-luciferase report assay. Results Up-regulated miR-135b was observed in highly invasive MHCC97 hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines. Over-expression of miR-135b enhanced the invasive and migratory abilities in vitro and in vivo of HepG2 and Bel-7402 cells. The invasive and migratory abilities in vitro and in vivo were significantly suppressed in miR-135b down-regulated MHCC97 hepatocellular carcinoma cells silenced by the pcDNA-miR-135b-Sponge plasmid. Western blotting and dual-luciferase report system analysis showed that multiple key components in the Hippo pathway, including large tumor suppressor homolog 2 (LATS2), beta-transducin repeats-containing proteins (β-TrCP), N-myc downstream-regulated gene 2 (NDR2) as well as leucine zipper tumor suppressor gene 1 (LZTS1) were targeted by miR-135b. Conclusion miR-135b promotes the invasion and metastasis possibly by targeting the Hippo pathway genes.