The effects of miR-140-5p on the biological characteristics of ovarian cancer cells through the Wnt signaling pathway.
Background: Ovarian cancer is usually not diagnosed until the late stage, and it is resistant to platinum and other standard chemotherapy drugs, resulting in high mortality.
Objective: To investigate the effects of miR-140-5p on cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, and migration capability in the SKOV3 and OVCAR3 ovarian cancer cell lines through Wnt signaling pathway.
Methods: Expression levels of miR-140-5p were checked using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The expression of miR-140-5p was upregulated by transfecting cells with a miR-140-5p mimic or a mimic negative control (NC). Cell proliferation was assessed using a CCK8 assay, and cell cycle distribution and apoptosis percentage were detected with flow cytometry. A transwell invasion assay was employed to evaluate cell migration and invasion ability. The target complementary relationship between miR-140-5p and WNT1 was verified using a dual-luciferase reporter assay while â-catenin in the nuclei was observed using immunofluorescence. The expression of Wnt signaling pathway-related proteins was examined using western blot and qRT-PCR.
Results: The relative expression level of miR-140-5p in SKOV3 and OVCAR3 cells was obviously decreased compared with that in the IOSE80 cells (p < 0.05). Besides, upregulated miR-140-5p effectively suppressed cell proliferation and increased the apoptosis ratio of SKOV3 and OVCAR3 cells (p < 0.05). In addition, the invasion and migration capability of SKOV3 and OVCAR3 cells in miR-140-5p mimic group was largely suppressed compared with the NC group (p < 0.05). What is more, the target complementary relationship between miR-140-5p and the WNT1 gene was revealed; upregulated miR-140-5p suppressed the expression of Wnt signaling-related genes, and restrained nuclear transfer of â-catenin (p < 0.05).
Conclusions: The overexpression of miR-140-5p restricted the proliferation, migration and invasion abilities, and accelerated cell apoptosis in ovarian cancer cell lines SKOV3 and OVCAR3 through the Wnt signaling pathway.