Taken together, we demonstrated that lncRNA MNX1-AS1/miR-34a/SIRT1 regulatory axis could play an important role in ESCC progression, and MNX1-AS1 may act as a novel potential biomarker for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
Quantitative polymerase chain reaction revealed that the miR‑34a expression is significantly downregulated in the ESCC tissues compared to that in the adjacent normal tissues. miR-34a overexpression was significantly suppressed migration and invasion in the ESCC cells and simultaneously inhibited the MMP-2, MMP-9 and FNDC3B expression levels by targeting the coding and 3'-untranslated regions, respectively.
DDX5, LAPTM4A, RHOA, ACTB, RNU48, miR-28-5p, miR-34a-5p, and miR-186-5p were stably expressed, indicating they are suitable for used as references in qRT-PCR analysis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
Results revealed that miR-34a functions as a tumor suppressor by inhibiting the proliferation, migration, and EMT phenotype, as well as promoting apoptosis of ESCC cell lines.
Results of the present study showed that miR-34a is associated with ESCC migration and provides a potential therapeutic and diagnostic target for ESCC.
The Kaplan-Meier analysis and log-rank test revealed that low miR-34a levels had a significant impact on overall survival of patients with ESCC (P = 0.006).
Our findings suggest that miR-34a is involved in the etiology of ESCC and that hypermethylated miR-34a is a potential biomarker for ESCC diagnosis and prognosis.
The present study provides the first evidence that pri-miR-124-1 rs531564 and pri-miR-34rs4938723 were associated with the risk of ESCC in Chinese population.
We conclude that CpG island methylation of miR-34a, miR-34b/c and miR-129-2 are frequent events and important mechanism for their low expression in ESCC.