miR-215 promotes cell migration and invasion of gastric cancer by targeting Retinoblastoma tumor suppressor gene 1.

Background Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common malignant tumor and has high mortality worldwide. microRNAs (miRNAs) play critical roles in carcinogenesis. Previous studied showed that miR-215 was involved in tumorigenesis and progression. This study was designed to clarify the biological function of miR-215 in GC. Methods qRT-PCR was used to detect the miR-215 expression in GC tissues and 6 human GC cell lines (AGS, SGC-7901, NCI-N87, GES-1, MKN-45 and BGC-823) as well. Transwell assay was used to investigate the biological function of miR-215 in GC. Luciferase reporter assay was used to confirm its effect on the regulation of the target gene Retinoblastoma tumor suppressor gene 1 ( RB1 ). Results miR-215 was frequently up-regulated in GC tissues compared to adjacent non-tumor tissues and GC cell lines. miR-215 expression level was correlated with the progression of tumor invasion and tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage. Over-expression miR-215 in GC cell lines promoted cell migration and invasion. Besides, miR-215 could down-regulate the expression of RB1 in vitro via directly binding to its 3′-untranslated region (UTR), while the expression of RB1 would suppress the miR-215-indueced GC cell migration and invasion. Conclusions miR-215 promoted cell migration and invasion of gastric cancer by directly targeting RB1 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]