Moreover, we demonstrated that FOXK1 was a novel target of miR-137 in glioma and FOXK1 restoration abolished the tumor suppressive effect of miR-137 in glioma cells.
We found gradual increase in miR-21 and miR-23a levels in all tumor grades whereas miR-7 and miR-137 were significantly down-regulated depending on the glioma grade.
In this study, we demonstrate that miR-137 expression is significantly downregulated in a cohort of 35 oligodendroglial tumors and nine glioma cell lines compared with normal brains.
These findings indicate that miR-137 inhibits the growth of gliomas cells by directly targeting Rac1, suggesting that miR-137 could be a new important therapeutic strategy for glioma treatment and warrants further investigation.
In conclusion, our study demonstrates that miR-137 deregulation is common in glioma, and restoration of its function inhibits cell proliferation and invasion, suggesting that miR-137 may act as a tumour suppressor.