MiR-429 Inhibits Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Growth by Targeting ZEB1

Background: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the sixth most common human malignancy worldwide. To develop new therapeutics requires elucidation of the underlying mechanism of OSCC pathogenesis. The role of miR-429 in OSCC remains unknown.
Material and Methods: The level of miR-429 and ZEB1 in OSCC tissues and cell lines was measured by qRT-PCR. MiR-429 was down-regulated by miRNAs antisense oligonucleotides (ASO) transfection and up-regulated by miRNAs mimics. Cell proliferation was analyzed by MTT assay. Cell apoptosis was revealed by FACS analysis. Targeted genes were predicted by a bioinformatics algorithm and confirmed by a dual luciferase reporter assay.
Results: MiR-429 was down-regulated in OSCC tissues, and miR-429 overexpression inhibited OSCC cell lines growth and vice versa. Further, we found that miR-429 could inhibit zinc finger E-boxbinding homeobox 1 (ZEB1) expression, and that miR-429 and ZEB1 expression in OSCC tissues were negatively correlated.
Conclusions: Our data demonstrate the tumor suppressor role of miR-429 in OSCC, and may provide a potential therapeutic target that warrants further investigation.

Keywords: Algorithms, Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - metabolism, Cell Separation, Computational Biology, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Homeodomain Proteins - metabolism, MicroRNAs - metabolism, Mouth Neoplasms - metabolism, Oligonucleotides, Antisense - chemistry, Transcription Factors - metabolism, Up-Regulation