MiR-199a-3p affects the multi-chemoresistance of osteosarcoma through targeting AK4

Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play vital roles in regulating various biological processes. The dysregulations of miRNAs may result in severe human diseases, including cancer. Methods We performed the qRT-PCR, western blot and the luciferase reporter assays to test whether Adenylate Kinase 4 (AK4) is the target of miR-199a-3p. Up- or down-regulation of miR-199a-3p and/or the AK4 gene was done to detect their roles in OS multi-drug resistance using drug resistance profiling assays. We further predicted the putative signal pathway involved in the miR-199a-3p-mediated OS drug-resistance. Results The AK4 gene is one of the targets of miR-199a-3p and negatively correlates with the effect of miR-199a-3p on OS drug-resistance. In addition, the activity of the NF-кB signaling pathway was drastically altered by the forced changes of the miR-199a-3p level in OS cells. Conclusions Our data revealed that both miR-199a-3p and its target gene AK4 are reversely correlated with the OS drug resistance. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12885-018-4460-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.