Ren J, Sun Y, Zhao X, Wang X, Feng J, Liu M, Zhu D. Downregulation of miR-21 regulates MMP-2 expression and suppress migration of Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Head Neck Oncol. 2012 Sep 9;4(2):65.

In this study, we measured cell migration and nude mice tumorigenicity assays in ASO-mir-21 transfected Hep-2 cells. We also employed western blot and immunohistochemistry to detect the MMP-2 expression in LSCC after miR-21 transfection. Our data showed that the migration ability of Hep-2 cells transfected with ASO-miR-21 was significantly decreased compared with the control. Downregulation of miR-21 dramatically suppressed the tumorigenicity of Hep-2 cells in nude mice. Furthermore, ASO-mir-21 could inhibit the expression of MMP-2 compared with the control both in vitro and in vivo. Our findings suggest that miR-21 is involved in cell migration and tumorigenicity of LSCC by regulation of MMP-2 expression. This further implicates miR-21 as an oncologic miRNA and may be a therapy target in LSCC.
Source: Head and Neck Oncology - Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: research