Capn4 expression is modulated by microRNA-520b and exerts an oncogenic role in prostate cancer cells by promoting Wnt/β-catenin signaling

Publication date: December 2018Source: Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, Volume 108Author(s): Wei Ren, Dong Wang, Chan Li, Tao Shu, Wei Zhang, Xiaoliang FuAbstractAccumulating evidence reports that Capn4 plays an important role in the development and progression of various malignant cancers. However, whether Capn4 is involved in prostate cancer remains unclear. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the expression, biological function and regulatory mechanism of Capn4 in prostate cancer. Herein, we found that Capn4 was highly expressed in prostate cancer cell lines compared with normal prostate cells. Capn4 gene silencing markedly suppressed the growth, invasion and Wnt/β-catenin signaling of prostate cancer cells, whereas Capn4 overexpression showed an oncogenic effect. Moreover, silencing of β-catenin significantly blocked the oncogenic effect of Capn4 overexpression. Bioinformatics analysis predicted that Capn4 was a potential target gene of microRNA-520b (miR-520b), which has been reported as a tumor suppressive miRNA in various cancers. The dual-luciferase reporter assay confirmed that miR-520b directly bound to the 3′-untranslated region of Capn4. Real-time quantitative PCR and Western blot analysis showed that miR-520b negatively regulated Capn4 expression in prostate cancer cells in vitro. Furthermore, we found that miR-520b was significantly downregulated in prostate cancer cell lines and tissues. In addition, miR-520b expression was inversely correlate...
Source: Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: research