MicroRNA-424 may function as a tumor suppressor in endometrial carcinoma cells by targeting E2F7

Abstract MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are frequently dysregulated in human cancers and can act as potent oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes. Aberrant expression of miR-424 has been identified in some types of cancer, however, its expression and potential biologic role in endometrial cancer are remains to be determined. In the present study, we demonstrated that miR-424 was downregulated in human endometrial cancer and suppressed growth of the human Ishikawa and HEC-1B endometrial cancer cell lines. Bioinformatics analysis indicated that E2F7 was a putative target of miR-424. In a luciferase reporter system, we confirmed that E2F7 was a direct target gene of miR-424. Furthermore, knockdown of E2F7 inhibited Ishikawa and HEC-1B cell growth. These findings indicate that miR-424 targets the E2F7 transcript and suppresses endometrial cancer cell growth, suggesting that miR-424 has a tumor suppressive role in human endometrial cancer pathogenesis.