In the current study, the expression of mature miR-133b was measured using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and the results indicated that miR-133b was significantly downregulated in ESCC tissues and various ESCC cell lines.
Accordingly, miR-29c, miR-100, miR-133a, and miR-133b were found to be involved in invasion and metastasis of ESCC, and miR-7 and miR-21 were found to be related to the differentiation of ESCC.
A comparison of miRNA signatures from ESCC and our previous report identified 4 miRNAs that are downregulated in common (miR-145, miR-30a-3p, miR-133a and miR-133b), suggesting that these miRNAs are candidate tumor suppressors.