CBX4/miR‐190 regulatory loop inhibits lung cancer metastasis

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundLung cancer is one of the major threats to human life worldwide. MiR‐190 has been found to perform essential roles in multiple cancer progression; however, there have been no studies focused on its function and underlying regulatory mechanism in lung cancer.MethodThe miR‐190 expression was detected by real‐time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT‐qPCR). The cell functional experiments, including cell counting kit‐8 (CCK‐8), colony formation and transwell assay were conducted in vitro, as well as animal experiments performed in vivo. The regulation and potential binding sites of CBX4 on miR‐190 were predicted by TCGA data set and JASPAR website and verified by ChIP assay and dual‐luciferase reporter assay. The prospects binding site of miR‐190‐3p on CBX4 3′UTR region was predicted by StarBase and verified by dual‐luciferase reporter assay.ResultsMiR‐190 was decreased in lung cancer cells. The overexpression of miR‐190 had no effects on cell proliferation, but significantly inhibited cancer metastasis both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, miR‐190 expression could be transcriptionally inhibited by CBX4, and CBX4 was the direct target of miR‐190‐3p.ConclusionMiR‐190 served as a cancer metastasis inhibitor in lung cancer and formed a regulatory loop with CBX4. These findings provided emerging insights into therapeutic targets and strategies for metastatic lung cancer.