The inhibition of microRNA-15a suppresses hepatitis B virus-associated liver cancer cell growth through the Smad/TGF-β pathway

Wang,Yan

doi:10.3892/or.2017.5618

The inhibition of microRNA-15a suppresses hepatitis B virus-associated liver cancer cell growth through the Smad/TGF-β pathway

Authors:
- Yan Wang
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Affiliations: Department of Infectious Diseases, Binzhou Tuberculosis Prevention and Control Hospital, Huimin, Binzhou, Shandong 251700, P.R. China
Published online on: May 2, 2017 https://doi.org/10.3892/or.2017.5618
Pages: 3520-3526

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Abstract

In the present study, the role of microRNA‑15a (miR‑15a) was investigated in hepatitis B virus (HBV)‑associated liver cancer. The results revealed that the expression levels of miR-15a were increased in HBV-associated liver cancer tissues compared with the levels in normal tumor‑adjacent tissues. Moreover, Smad-7 protein expression in patients with HBV-associated liver cancer was higher than that in normal tumor-adjacent tissues. In addition, miR-15a expression and Smad-7 protein expression were increased in HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma cells compared with that noted in L-02 normal hepatocytes. In HepG2 cells, miR-15a inhibition suppressed cell proliferation and increased Smad-7 protein expression. The inhibition of miR-15a was also demonstrated to decrease transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 protein expression and Smad-2, p-Smad-2 and Smad-4 expression levels in HepG2 cells. Furthermore, FSP1 protein expression and caspase-3/-7 activities were enhanced by miR-15a inhibition in HepG2 cells compared with the control group. Treatment with recombinant TGF-β1 was demonstrated to activate Smad‑2/-4 and FSP1 protein expression and increase caspase-3/-7 activity in HepG2 cells. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that the miR-15a/Smad-7/TGF-β pathway is important in HBV-associated liver cancer.

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