Inhibition of Mir-21-5p Affects the Expression of LNCRNA X-Inactive Specific Transcript and Induces Apoptosis in MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells

We aimed to investigate  miR-21-5p inhibition effect on lncRNA-XIST expression and apoptosis status of MCF-7 cells.

The MCF-7 cells were cultured and transfected by the anti-miR-21-5p oligonucleotide and expression of miR-21-5p, lncRNA-XIST, apoptosis-associated genes (bax and p53) and one miR-21-5p-unrelated lncRNA (BC200) was assessed by RT-qPCR. Furthermore, cell viability checked by MTT assay and apoptosis and cell cycle in transfected cells were detected by flow cytometry. Also, bioinformatics analysis on the transcriptome data confirmed that the lncRNA XIST might have a critical role in breast cancer (BC) cell apoptosis through ceRNAs mechanism and possible regulatory interactions with miR-21-5p.

Expression of miR-21-5p and lncRNA-XIST was significantly down- and up-regulated respectively (P<0.05). However, there was no significant change in lncRNA-BC200 expression. Also, the expression of bax and p53 upraised significantly (P<0.05). In transfected cells, MTT and flow cytometry assays reported a highly significant decrease and increase in viability and apoptosis respectively.

Inhibition of miR-21-5p resulted in significant upregulation of lncRNA-XIST and apoptosis-associated genes bax and p53, which led to the induction of apoptosis in MCF-7 cells. Therefore, more investigations may provide a valuable target for studies on molecular therapies for BC.