Pituitary tumor-transforming gene 1 enhances metastases of cervical cancer cells through miR-3666-regulated ZEB1

• DOI: 10.1007/s13277-015-4047-1
• Publication Date: 2015-09-17T20:42:56Z
• Authors: Lin Li; Li-Ying Han; Ming Yu; Qi Zhou; Jian-Cheng Xu; Ping Li
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 03 medical and health sciences; 3. Good health

Early cancer metastases often occur in cervical cancer (CC) patients, resulting in poor prognosis and poor therapeutic outcome after resection of primary cancer. Hence, there is a compelling requirement for elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying the CC cell invasiveness. Recently, the role of microRNAs (miRNAs) and pituitary tumor-transforming gene 1 (Pttg1) in the carcinogenesis of CC has been reported. Nevertheless, the relationship between miRNAs and Pttg1 remains ill-defined. Here, we showed that the levels of miR-3666 were significantly decreased and the levels of zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1) and Pttg1 were significantly increased in the CC specimens from patients, compared to the paired non-tumor tissue. Moreover, the levels of miR-3666 and ZEB1 inversely correlated. Bioinformatics analyses showed that miR-3666 targeted the 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) of ZEB1 messenger RNA (mRNA) to inhibit its translation, which was confirmed by luciferase reporter assay. Moreover, Pttg1 overexpression inhibited miR-3666 and subsequently increased ZEB1 and cell invasion, while Pttg1 depletion increased miR-3666 and subsequently decreased ZEB1 and cell invasion. Together, our data suggest that Pttg1 may increase CC cell metastasis, possibly through miR-3666-regulated ZEB1 levels.