Affiliations: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First People’s Hospital of Jingzhou, Jingzhou, Hubei 434000, China | Tel.: +86 716 8214001; E-mail: [email protected]
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First People’s Hospital of Jingzhou, Jingzhou, Hubei 434000, China. Tel.: +86 716 8214001; E-mail: [email protected].
Abstract: OBJECTIVE:To investigate the role of miR-337-3p targeting Rap1A in modulating proliferation, invasion, migration and apoptosis of cervical cancer cells. METHODS:The expression levels of miR-337-3p and Rap1A in cervical cancer tissues and normal tissues were evaluated through quantitative Real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and Western blotting; and correlations of miR-337-3p with clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of patients were also analyzed. Besides, human cervical cancer cell line HeLa cells were randomly divided into five groups (Mock, NC, miR-337-3p mimic, Rap1A, and miR-337-3p mimic + Rap1A groups). CCK-8 assay was utilized to measure cell proliferation, flow cytometry to evaluate cell apoptosis, and wound-healing and Transwell assays to detect cell migration and invasion. RESULTS: Cervical cancer tissues presented a significant decrease in miR-337-3p and a remarkable increase in Rap1A protein. Besides, the expression levels of miR-337-3p and Rap1A were closely related to the major clinicopathological characteristics of cervical cancer; and patients with high-miR-337-3p-expression had the higher 5-year survival rate (all p< 0.05). When compared to Mock group, cells in miR-337-3p mimic group were suppressed in proliferation, migration, and invasion, but significantly promoted in apoptosis; meanwhile, cells in the Rap1A group showed changes in a completely opposite trend (all p< 0.05). Moreover, Rap1A can reverse the effect of miR-337-3p mimic on cell proliferation, invasion, migration and apoptosis (all p< 0.05). CONCLUSION:MiR-337-3p was discovered to be decreased in cervical cancer, and miR-337-3p up-regulation may inhibit the proliferation, migration and invasion and promote the apoptosis of cervical cancer cells via down-regulating Rap1A.
