In glioma, the sex-determining region Y-box 9 gene (SOX9) is overexpressed and its downregulation leads to inhibition of cell proliferation, invasion and increased cell apoptosis.
In this study, using Transwell invasion and cell proliferation assays, we demonstrated that 5-azacytidine significantly inhibited the metastasis and proliferation of EC9706 cells, and upregulated the expression of cadherin 1 (CDH1) and SRY-box containing gene 17 (SOX17).
Results indicated that miR-138 directly targeted SRY-related high mobility group box 4 (SOX4) and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), and overexpression of SOX4 and HIF-1α effectively reversed the miR-138-mediated suppression of cell invasion.