Low expression of microRNA-202 is associated with the metastasis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

The present study aimed to determine the expression levels and biological functions of microRNA-202 (miR-202) in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). A total of 60 patients with ESCC and 30 healthy individuals were enrolled and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction was performed to measure the expression levels of miR-202. In order to investigate the effects of miR-202 expression levels on the proliferative, migratory and invasive abilities of ESCC cells, methylthiazolyl-tetrazolium bromide proliferation, in vitro scratch and Transwell (R) chamber assays were performed. Expression levels of miR-202 were significantly decreased in the peripheral blood of patients with ESCC, which is associated with the degree of cell differentiation and lymph node metastasis (P<0.05). Following miR-202 transfection, cell proliferation was significantly inhibited (P<0.05). Cell migration and invasion was also significantly inhibited by miR-202 transfection (P<0.05). The results of the present study demonstrated that the expression of miR-202 inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of ESCC cells. Furthermore, low expression levels of miR-202 were detected in the peripheral blood of patients with ESCC, which is associated with the development, invasion and metastasis of ESCC.