Inhibition of autophagy potentiates the proliferation inhibition activity of microRNA‑7 in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Wang,Yanna; Wang,Qiaoling; Song,Jiqing

doi:10.3892/ol.2017.6573

Inhibition of autophagy potentiates the proliferation inhibition activity of microRNA‑7 in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Authors:
- Yanna Wang
- Qiaoling Wang
- Jiqing Song
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Affiliations: Department of Infectious Diseases, Yantai Hospital For Infectious Diseases, Yantai, Shandong 264001, P.R. China, Nursing Department of Yantai Yeda Hospital, Yantai, Shandong 264006, P.R. China
Published online on: July 15, 2017 https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2017.6573
Pages: 3566-3572
Copyright: © Wang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) are important molecules that are able to regulate multiple cellular processes in cancer cells. miR‑7 has been previously identified as a tumor suppressive miRNA in several types of cancer. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether miR‑7 is able to regulate autophagy in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. It was identified that miR‑7 was significantly downregulated in tumor tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues. Overexpression of miR‑7 inhibited cell proliferative activity, which was partially reversed by miR‑7 inhibitor. In addition, overexpression of miR‑7 significantly induced an increasen in autophagic activity, and luciferase activity assay and western blot analysis identified that mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) was a direct target of miR‑7. In addition, inhibition of autophagy by 3‑methyladenine resulted in a marked enhancement of the proliferation inhibition effect of miR‑7. In conclusion, miR‑7 was identified to induce proliferation inhibition and autophagy in HCC cells by targeting mTOR, and inhibition of autophagy may be utilized to enhance the antitumor activity of miR‑7.

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