Abnormal methylation of miR-34a and miR-34b/c genes might be regarded as potential biomarkers for noninvasive screening and diagnosis of colorectal cancer.
An active IL-6R/STAT3/miR-34a loop was necessary for EMT, invasion, and metastasis of CRC cell lines and was associated with nodal and distant metastasis in CRC patient samples. p53 activation in CRC cells interfered with IL-6-induced invasion and migration via miR-34a-dependent downregulation of IL6R expression.
Although the biological relevance of nuclear GSK-3 level has not been fully studied, our results demonstrate that the tumor suppressor p53/miR-34 axis plays a role in regulating nuclear GSK-3 levels and Wnt signaling through the non-coding UTR of Axin2 in colorectal cancer.
Furthermore, ectopic expression of c-Kit conferred resistance of colorectal cancer (CRC) cells to treatment with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), whereas ectopic miR-34a sensitized the cells to 5-FU.
MiR-34a (2.2-fold), miR-155 (2.3-fold) and miR-200c (3.1-fold) were all expressed at higher levels in colorectal cancer (P = 0.001, 0.005 and 0.001, respectively).
An inverse correlation between Axl protein and miR-34a expression in a panel of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), colorectal cancer (CRC) and breast cancer (BRC) cell lines was observed, while miR-199a/b expression was completely suppressed.