Study of cell proliferation and migration inhibition by miR-4516 treatment in human breast cancer

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. Studies have displayed that the dysregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) plays a crucial role in the incidence, progress, and metastasis of tumors. miRNAs have been considered as a biomarker as well as a therapeutic agent, thus gene therapy with miRNA is considered as one of the ways to treat cancer. miR-4516 has been reported to play a role in different diseases and malignancies. However, the expression level and biological function of miR-4516 in breast cancer remain poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate the expression level and the effect of miR-4516 on the proliferation and migration in breast cancer.

Tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissues were collected from 40 patients with breast cancer. MiR-4516 levels in breast cancer cell lines and tumor tissue were measured by real-time PCR. Pre-mir-4516 was cloned in the pEGFPN1 vector. Then human breast cancer MCF7 cells were cultured and pre-miR-4516 vector and control vector were transfected into cells. After transfection, a miR-4516 level was verified by QPCR. Cell proliferation and migration were studied with MTT assay and scratch test respectively.

miR-4516 was down-regulated in breast cancer tissues and cell lines. Low expression of miR-4516 was directly related to the high-grade tumor. miR-4516 suppressed breast cancer cell proliferation, but not migration in vitro.

miR-4516 may function as a tumor suppressor and inhibits the proliferation which may consequently serve as a therapeutic target for breast cancer.