The proliferation and invasion of osteosarcoma are inhibited by miRNA-101 via targeting ZEB2

Having a better grasp of the molecular mechanisms underlying carcinogenesis and progression in osteosarcoma would be helpful to find novel therapeutic targets. Different types of cancers have presented abnormal expression of miRNA-101 (miR-101). Nevertheless, we still could not figure out what expression of miR-101 in human osteosarcoma is and its biological function. Thus, we conducted this study to identify its expression, function, and molecular mechanism in osteosarcoma. We detected the expression of miR-101 in osteosarcoma samples and cell lines. The effects of miR-101 on osteosarcoma cells9 proliferation and invasion were evaluated. Luciferase reporter assay was applied to identify the direct target of miR-101. Compared to adjacent normal specimens and normal bone cell line by using qPCR, the expression levels of miR-101 in osteosarcoma specimens and human osteosarcoma cell lines distinctly decreased. According to function assays, we found that overexpression of miR-101 significantly inhibited the cell proliferation and invasion in osteosarcoma cells. Moreover, we confirmed that zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 2 (ZEB2) was a direct target of miR-101. In addition, overexpression of ZEB2 could rescue the inhibition effect of proliferation and invasion induced by miR-101 in osteosarcoma cells. MiR-101 has been proved to be downregulated in osteosarcoma and has the ability to suppress osteosarcoma cell proliferation and invasion by directly targeting ZEB2.