MicroRNA-940 promotes cell proliferation and invasion of glioma by directly targeting Kruppel-like factor 9.

MicroRNA-940 (miR-940) has been extensively studied in the pathogenesis of numerous types of human cancer; however, the expression pattern, roles and molecular mechanisms underlying the regulatory actions of miR-940 in glioma remain unknown. The present study aimed to further investigate miR-940 by studying its expression, roles and mechanisms of action in glioma. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to detect miR-940 expression in glioma tissues and cell lines. The regulatory effects of miR-940 in glioma cell proliferation and invasion were determined using MTT and cell invasion assays. Bioinformatics analyses was performed to identify the potential target of miR-940, which was further confirmed by luciferase reporter assay, RT-qPCR and western blot analysis. In the present study, significantly increased miR-940 expression levels were observed in glioma tissues and cell lines compared with normal brain tissues and normal human astrocytes, respectively. Decreased miR-940 expression levels attenuated glioma cell proliferation and invasion in vitro. Kruppel-like factor 9 (KLF9) was predicted as a potential target of miR-940. Further assays demonstrated that miR-940 negatively regulated KLF9 expression in glioma cells by directly targeting the 3′-untranslated regions of KLF9. Additionally, KLF9 expression was downregulated in glioma tissues and was inversely correlated with miR-940. Furthermore, KLF9 knockdown was able to rescue the effects of miR-940 on glioma cell proliferation and invasion. The results of the present study suggest that miR-940 may function as an oncogene in glioma by targeting KLF9 and may be a considered a therapeutic target for the treatment of gliomas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]