Involvement of microRNAs-MMPs-E-cadherin in the migration and invasion of gastric cancer cells infected with Helicobacter pylori

Abstract It has been found that Helicobacter pylori （ H. pylori ）is not only the main cause of gastric cancer, but also closely related to its metastasis. E-cadherin cleavage induced by matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) plays an important role in the tumor metastasis. In the present study, we investigated the role of microRNAs-MMPs-E-cadherin in migration and invasion of gastric cancer cells treated with H. pylori . The results showed that H. pylori induced migration and invasion of SGC-7901 cells with a down-regulation of E-cadherin expression, which were abolished by MMPs knock down, E-cadherin overexpression, mimics of miR128 and miR148a. MiR128/miR148a inhibitors restored MMP-3/MMP-7 expression, down-regulated E-cadherin level, and accelerated cellular migration and invasion. This study suggests that H. pylori induces migration and invasion of gastric cancer cells through reduction of E-cadherin function by activation of MMP-3, − 7. The present results also suggest that the activated MMPs/E-cadherin pathway is related with down-regulation of miR128/miR148a in the human gastric cancer cells infected with H. pylori .