MicroRNA-301 a promotes growth and migration by repressing TGFBR 2 in non-small cell lung cancer

A number of recent studies reported that miR-301a was significantly up-regulated and implicated in several types of human cancers. However, the functional involvement of miR-301a in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains largely unknown. Herein, miR-301a mimics and inhibitors were used to manipulate miR-301a expression in NSCLC cells, respectively. Our findings revealed that miR-301a expression was significantly up-regulated in nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tissues compared with normal lung tissues. Overexpression of miR-301a significantly enhanced proliferation and migration in lung cancer cells. Conversely, inhibition of miR-301a remarkably suppressed cell growth and motility. Systemic target gene analysis demonstrated that TGFBR2 is a critical downstream target negatively regulated by miR-301a in lung cancer cells. Notably, TGFBR2 expression was remarkably downregulated and inversely correlated with miR-301 expression in NSCLC tissues. Consistently, the expression levels of TGF-β signaling genes were modulated by miR-301a, and negatively correlated with that of miR-301a in NSCLC tissues. Moreover, low TGFBR2 expression was significantly associated with poorer survival in NSCLC patients. Out data indicated that miR-301a promotes cell growth and migration by targeting TGFBR2 to modulate TGF-β signaling pathway in lung cancer.