Abstract 4369: The microRNA-218-survivin axis regulates cervical cancer cell migration and invasion

Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA MicroRNA (miR)-218 down-regulation has been reported in numerous human malignancies. In cervical cancer, we identified that lower miR-218 expression was significantly associated with poorer overall survival, disease-free survival, and pelvic/para-aortic lymph node recurrence. Further analyses of cervical cancer data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) identified that this down-regulation was associated with a genomic locus loss (hsa-mir-218-1:4p15.31, hsa-mir-218-2:5q34, n=105). The objective of the current study was to elucidate the cellular and molecular functions of miR-218. MiR-218 transfection into cervical cancer cells (SiHa and ME-180) significantly reduced cell migration (by 66% and 89%, respectively), invasion (by 49% and 67%, respectively), and clonogenic capacity (by 42% and 53%, respectively), relative to control-transfected cells (P<0.05). In order to identify clinically relevant miR-218 target genes, we used an integrated trimodal approach, incorporating DNA microarray (Affymetrix Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0) analyses of 79 clinical samples, miR-218 transfection, and miRDB target prediction. The most significant target was survivin (BIRC5); miR-218 transfection confirmed a reduction in survivin mRNA and protein expression in both SiHa and ME-180 cells. Furthermore, a direct interaction between the survivin-3′UTR and miR-218 was validated using a luciferase reporter assay. siRNA knockdown of survivin in SiHa and ME-180 significantly reduced cell migration (by 76% and 83%, respectively), invasion (by 79% and 88%, respectively), and clonogenic capacity (by 98% and 97%, respectively), relative to control cells (P<0.05). YM155, a small-molecule survivin suppressant, effectively reduced survivin mRNA and protein levels in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. This compound correspondingly decreased cervical cancer cell proliferation and clonogenic survival. Our results suggest that the miR-218-survivin axis plays an important role in cervical cancer progression. Citation Format: Ryunosuke Kogo, Christine How, Jeff Bruce, Willa Shi, Kenneth W. Yip, Laurie Ailles, Fei-Fei Liu. The microRNA-218-survivin axis regulates cervical cancer cell migration and invasion. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 4369. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-4369