MiR-767-3p promotes the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma via targeting CASP-3/-9

Maolin Wu; Jing Deng; Dejiao Yao; Shijie Li

MiR-767-3p promotes the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma via targeting CASP-3/-9

Am J Transl Res. 2023 Apr 15;15(4):2926-2938. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Maolin Wu¹, Jing Deng², Dejiao Yao¹, Shijie Li¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Oncology, Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Chengdu 610075, Sichuan, P. R. China.
² Department of Otolaryngology, Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Chengdu 610075, Sichuan, P. R. China.

PMID: 37193190
PMCID: PMC10182511

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between miR-767-3p and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Method: We examined the expression of miR-767-3p in both HCC tissues and HCC cell lines by qRT-PCR and western blot assay. We also investigated the influence of miR-767-3p on HCC by transfecting HCC cells with either miR-767-3p mimics or inhibitors.

Result: MiR-767-3p expression was increased in HCCs and cell lines. Functional analyses demonstrated that miR-767-3p increased HCC cell proliferation and prevented apoptosis both in vitro and in vivo, whereas miR-767-3p inhibition had the opposite effect. Caspase-3 and caspase-9 were found to be direct targets of miR-767-3p in HCC cell lines, and overexpression of miR-767-3p suppressed caspase-3/-9 production. Caspase-3 and caspase-9 siRNA knockdown revealed similar promoting of cell proliferation and inhibiting of cell apoptosis produced by miR-767-3p overexpression, whereas caspase-3/-9 siRNAs inhibited miR-767-3p knockdown-induced inhibition of cell proliferation and promotion of cell apoptosis.

Conclusion: MiR-767-3p promoted proliferation and prevented apoptosis in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) through inhibiting the caspase-3/caspase-9 pathway.

Keywords: casepase; hepatocellular carcinoma; miR-767-3p.