A Critical Role of miR-144 in Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma Proliferation and Invasion

MicroRNAs are endogenous noncoding RNAs that play important roles in a wide variety of biologic processes such as apoptosis, development, aging, and tumorigenesis. The B-cell lymphoma 6 (BCL6) transcriptional repressor has emerged as a critical therapeutic target in diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCL), but the mechanisms regulating BCL6 are still unclear. In the current study, we screened the microRNA expression profiles in DLBCL specimens and cell lines by qRT-PCR and found that the expression of miR-144 was significantly downregulated in DLBCL tissues and cell lines and negatively correlated with BCL6 expression. We further demonstrated that BCL6 was the direct target gene of miR-144, and miR-144 suppressed the expression of BCL6 via binding the 3′untranslated region of BCL6 mRNA. Biologically, forced expression of miR-144 significantly attenuated cell proliferation and invasion of OCI-Ly3 cells in vitro , and the tumor-suppressor effect of miR-144 was also confirmed using a xenograft mouse model in vivo . Taken together, our results reveal that miR-144 regulates BCL6 in DLBCL and provide a rationale for developing strategies that target miR-144 as a therapeutic intervention for DLBCL. Cancer Immunol Res; 4(4); 337–44. ©2016 AACR .