Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

MicroRNA-744 induces apoptosis and autophagy in human gastric cancer by targeting heparanase-1

Dan Zhao¹, Xiaohong Xie¹, Qin Tan², Xin Zhao¹, Dingpei Xing³

¹Department of Clinical Laboratory, Chongqing University Three Gorges Hospital, Chongqing 404000, China; ²Department of Clinical Laboratory, Chongqing Wanzhou Shanghai Hospital, Chongqing 404000, China; ³Department of Pediatric General Surgery, Chongqing University Three Gorges Hospital, Chongqing 404000, China.

For correspondence:- Dingpei Xing Email: 896989475@qq.com Tel:+862358103628

Accepted: 19 December 2022 Published: 30 January 2023

Citation: Zhao D, Xie X, Tan Q, Zhao X, Xing D. MicroRNA-744 induces apoptosis and autophagy in human gastric cancer by targeting heparanase-1. Trop J Pharm Res 2023; 22(1):53-58 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v22i1.8

© 2023 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To study the possible anti-cancer effects of miR-744 on human gastric cancer cells, and the underlying mechanism.

Methods: The mRNA expression of miR-744 was determined using qRT-PCR, while CCK-8, Annexin V/PI and acridine orange assays were used to determine cell viability, apoptosis and autophagy, respectively. The expressions of target proteins were determined using qRT-PCR and Immunoblotting.

Results: Significant suppressions of miR-744 were observed in gastric cancer tissues and cell lines. Overexpression of miR-744 inhibited the proliferation while silencing of miR-744 promoted the proliferation of gastric cancer cells. Furthermore, the tumor-suppressive effect of miR-744 in gastric cancer was due to induction of apoptosis and autophagy. Heparanase-1 (HPSE-1) was identified as the target of miR-744. Silencing of HSPE-1 significantly inhibited cell proliferation, whereas its overexpression significantly restored the growth-inhibitory effects of miR-744 overexpression on gastric cancer (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: These results indicate that miR-744 exerts a tumor-suppressive effect on the growth and proliferation of gastric cancer cells in vitro by targeting HPSE-1. There is need to further determine the anti-cancer effect of miR-744 expression in animal models.

Keywords: Gastric cancer, Micro-RNA, miR-744, Proliferation, Apoptosis, Autophagy, Heparanase-1