Abstract 3059: miR-518c-5p promotes the metastasis of oral cancer cells in a CXCR4-dependent and -independent manner

We have demonstrated that CXCR4 system is involved in the metastatic process of oral cancer. Recently, we identified the miR-518c-5p as a downstream target of the CXCR4 system, which was involved in the metastasis of B88, a CXCR4-expressing oral cancer cell line (2014 AACR annual meeting). In this study, we examined the function of miR-518c-5p in an oral cancer cell line, CAL27, which did not express CXCR4 and did not exhibit metastatic potential in vivo. We transfected a miR-518c expression vector into parental CAL27 cells and isolated a stable transfectant, CAL27-518c. We could detect the upregulation of miR-518c-5p in the miR-518c transfectants compared with mock cells, which was completely inhibited by treatment with the miR-518c-5p LNA inhibitor. The growth and migration of CAL27-518c cells were significantly enhanced compared with those of mock cells. The miR-518c-5p inhibitor significantly impaired the enhanced cell growth and migration of CAL27-518c cells, indicating that these phenomena were mainly dependent on the expression of miR-518c-5p. Next, we examined the function of miR-518c-5p in vivo. miR-518c or mock transfectants were inoculated into the masseter muscle or the blood vessels of nude mice. Tumor volume, lymph nodes metastasis, and lung metastasis were significantly increased in the mice inoculated with miR-518c transfectants. These results indicate miR-518c-5p promotes the metastasis of oral cancer in a CXCR4-dependent and -independent manner. Citation Format: Makoto Kinouchi, Daisuke Uchida, Nobuyuki Kuribayashi, Tetsuya Tamatani, Hirokazu Nagai, Hitoshi Kawamata, Youji Miyamoto. miR-518c-5p promotes the metastasis of oral cancer cells in a CXCR4-dependent and -independent manner. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 3059. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-3059