Prostate cancer (PCa) is considered as a common visceral cancer in males and the sixth major cause of cancer-related deaths in males worldwide. Significant diagnostic and therapeutic advances have been made in the past decades. However, an improved understanding of their molecular mechanism is still needed. In the present research, we first detected the expression of miR-146b by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and found that miR-146b expression was increased in PCa. Subsequently, we found that miR-146b play an important role in the viability and proliferation capacity of PCa cells functionally. To explore the mechanism, we performed western blot to examine the autophagy-related markers, and found that miR‑146b may promote autophagy in PCa cells via activation of PTEN/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. Furthermore, we performed the dual luciferase reporter assay to clarify the relationship between miR-146b and PTEN. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that miR-146b inhibited autophagy in PCa by targeting the PTEN/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway, and it could be a potential candidate for application in the treatment of PCa.
Keywords: AKT/m-TOR signaling pathway; PTEN; autophagy; microRNA-146b; prostate cancer.