MicroRNA-155 promotes glioma cell proliferation via the regulation of MXI1

PLoS One. 2013 Dec 23;8(12):e83055. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0083055. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

Gliomas are the most common and aggressive primary tumors in the central nervous system. Recently, Max interactor-1 (MXI1), an antagonist of c-Myc that is involved in brain tumor progression, has been reported to be deregulated in a variety of tumors including glioma. However, the mechanism of MXI1 deregulation in gliomas remains unclear. In this study, we show that the relative expression level of MXI1 is markedly down-regulated in glioma cell lines. Using integrated bioinformatic analysis and experimental confirmation, we identified several miRNAs by screening a panel of predicted miRNAs that may regulate the MXI1 3'UTR. The strongest inhibitory miRNA, miR-155, can attenuate the activity of a luciferase reporter gene that is fused with the MXI1 3'UTR and decrease the expression levels of MXI1 mRNA and protein in U87 glioma cells. The potential role of miR-155 in promoting glioma cell proliferation by targeting MXI1 was confirmed in various glioma cell lines by rescue experiments using MTT assays, EdU incorporation assay, and cell counting experiments. In addition, we determined that the level of MXI1 mRNA was inversely correlated with the expression of miR-155 in 18 sets of glioblastoma multiforme specimens. These findings reveal for the first time that the targeting of MXI1 by miR-155 may result in a reduction in MXI1 expression and promote glioma cell proliferation; this result suggests a novel function of miR-155 in targeting MXI1 in glioma-genesis.

MeSH terms

  • 3' Untranslated Regions
  • Base Sequence
  • Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors / genetics*
  • Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors / metabolism
  • Brain Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Brain Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Brain Neoplasms / pathology
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Epigenesis, Genetic
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic*
  • Genes, Reporter
  • Glioblastoma / genetics*
  • Glioblastoma / metabolism
  • Glioblastoma / pathology
  • Humans
  • Luciferases / genetics
  • Luciferases / metabolism
  • MicroRNAs / genetics*
  • MicroRNAs / metabolism
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins / genetics*
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins / metabolism

Substances

  • 3' Untranslated Regions
  • Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors
  • MIRN155 microRNA, human
  • MXI1 protein, human
  • MicroRNAs
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins
  • Luciferases

Grants and funding

This study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 81272773); Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (Grant no. S2013010012170); the Scientific and Technological Planning of Guangzhou(Grant no. 2012J4100082) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant no. 10lgpy23).The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.