MicroRNA-92b represses invasion-metastasis cascade of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

// Gang Ma 1, * , Chao Jing 1, * , Lin Li 1 , Furong Huang 1 , Fang Ding 1 , Baona Wang 2 , Dongmei Lin 3 , Aiping Luo 1 , Zhihua Liu 1 1 The State Key Laboratory of Molecular Oncology, Cancer Institute and Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Beijing, People’s Republic of China 2 Department of Anesthesiology, Cancer Institute and Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, People’s Republic of China 3 Department of Pathology, Cancer Institute and Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, People’s Republic of China * Authors share co-first authorship Correspondence to: Zhihua Liu, e-mail: liuzh@cicams.ac.cn Keywords: esophageal cancer, microRNA-92b, integrin αV, invasion, metastasis Received: November 04, 2015     Accepted: February 16, 2016     Published: February 26, 2016 ABSTRACT Invasion and metastasis are major contributors to cancer-caused death in patients suffered from esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). To explore the microRNAs involved in regulating invasion-metastasis cascade of ESCC, we established two pairs of sublines (30-U/D and 180-U/D) with distinct motility capacity from two ESCC cell lines (KYSE30 and KYSE180). Screening of the differentially expressed microRNAs identified that microRNA-92b-3p (miR-92b) could dramatically inhibit invasion and metastasis of ESCC cells in vitro and in vivo . Subsequent studies showed that miR-92b exerted its inhibitory function through suppressing the expression of integrin αV (ITGAV), which further reduced phosphrylated FAK and impaired Rac1 activation. Moreover, higher expression of miR-92b in ESCC tissues correlated inversely with lymph node metastasis and indicated better prognosis. Together, these results for the first time describe how miR-92b suppresses the motility of ESCC cells and provide a promise for diagnosis or therapy of ESCC invasion and metastasis.