miR-1273h-5p Suppresses the Penetration and Pervasion of Gastric Cancer Cells via Suppressing CXCL12 Expression

Purpose: microRNAs (miRNAs), which may function as oncogenes or tumor suppressors, have been verified in the development of breast carcinoma, melanoma, and some other tumors. The dysregulated miR-1273h-5p in tissue samples of gastric cancer (GC) may be involved in the progression of GC. The aim of this study was to verify the biological function of miR-1273h-5p in GC progression.Method: The differential expression of microRNAs between GC and tumor-adjacent normal tissues was detected by microarrays, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis was used for miR-1273h-5p and chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 12 (CXCL12) mRNA expressions. The effect of miR-1273h-5p on cell proliferation and apoptosis was evaluated by CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry; cell migration and invasion were observed by using the transwell method. In addition, protein levels were determined by Western blot. SGC-7901 cell transfected gene sequences were injected into BALB/c-nu mice to establish a xenograft model in order to validate the biological function of miR-1273h-5p in vivo.Results: Compared to tumor-adjacent normal tissue and GES-1 cells, miR-1273h-5p was significantly down-regulated in tissues and cells of GC. The overexpression of miR-1273h-5p could inhibit cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and promote cell apoptosis; in contrast, inhibition of miR-1273h-5p expression could reverse this process. Moreover, a significant up-regulation of CXCL12 was observed when the miR-1273h-5p was down-regulated in GC cells. Additionally, tumor tissues were collected from mice after 21 days of feeding, revealing that miR-1273h-5p significantly reduces tumor volume and tumor weight. Conclusions: miR-1273h-5p regulates cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and apoptosis during GC progression by directly binding to CXCL12 mRNA 3'-UTR, thus can be used as a potential diagnostic and a novel therapeutic target for GC in clinical practice.