Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Effect of miR-138 on migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells, and the underlying mechanism

Yanxi Li¹, Jun Peng¹ , Yong Huang¹, Yichun Man², Yaqi Li¹, Ping Chen¹, Erqing Peng¹

¹Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First People's Hospital of Liangshan Yi Automotive Precision, Xichang 615000, China; ²Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, Chengdu 610072, Sichuan Province, China.

For correspondence:- Jun Peng Email: huaijizhan1674@163.com

Accepted: 3 October 2023 Published: 30 October 2023

Citation: Li Y, Peng J, Huang Y, Man Y, Li Y, Chen P, et al. Effect of miR-138 on migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells, and the underlying mechanism. Trop J Pharm Res 2023; 22(10):2059-2065 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v22i10.6

© 2023 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To study the influence of microRNA-138 (miR-138) on the migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells, and the underlying mechanism.

Methods: Fifteen cervical carcinoma subjects were enrolled in the study. Control group comprised cervical epithelial cell line (End1/E6E7) while cervical cancer group was human cervical squamous cell carcinoma cell line c33a. Both were cultured routinely without any treatment. In miR-138 overexpression group, cells were cultured in progeny of human cervical squamous carcinoma cell line c33a infected with miR-138 gene overexpression lentivirus. expression levels of miR-138 in excised cervical cancer tissues were determined using qPCR. Cell proliferation was determined with CCK8 assay. Immunoblotting was utilized to assay protein expression levels. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to determine mRNA expression levels, while cell migration and invasion were assessed by Transwell method.

Results: There was significant down-regulation of miR-138 expression in cervical cancer tissue, relative to nearby tissues (p < 0.05). In miR-138 overexpression group, cell proliferation, number of migrated and invaded cells were significantly reduced, relative to corresponding levels in cervical cancer cells. There were significantly higher expression levels of apoptosis-related proteins FAS, Bax and FasL in miR-138 overexpression group than in cervical cancer cells, while Bcl-2 was significantly down-regulated, relative to cervical cancer group (p < 0.05). In cervical cancer cells, mRNA and protein levels of SIRT1 and HIF-1α were significantly up-regulated, relative to corresponding control, but levels of HIF-1α and miR-138 were significantly reduced in overexpression group when compared to cervical cancer group (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Up-regulating miR-138 in cervical cancer cells reduces HIF-1α through inhibition of SIRT1 signaling, resulting in suppression of multiplication, migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells, while enhancing apoptotic changes.

Keywords: MicroRNA-138, Cervical cancer, Migration, Invasion, Silent signal regulator 1