miR-326 functions as a tumor suppressor in human prostatic carcinoma by targeting Mucin1
Authors: Zhaolun Li
Xuan Liang
Qunli Men
Hechen Li
Yongwei Li
Tie Chong
Journal: Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy (2018)
Discipline: PHARMACOLOGY & TOXICOLOGY
Keywords: Invasion; Mucin1; Proliferation; Prostatic carcinoma; miR-326.
Affiliations: Department of Oncology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710004, PR China. Electronic address: ., Department of Urology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710004, PR China., Department of Urology, the Central Hospital of Baoji City, 721008, Baoji, Shaanxi, PR China., Department of Urology, the Central Hospital of Weinan City, 714000, Weinan, Shaanxi, PR China.

Abstract:  Accumulating evidence suggests that microRNA-326 (miR-326) serves as a tumor suppressor in the initiation and progression of several human malignancies. However, the biological function and underlying molecular mechanism of miR-326 in prostatic carcinoma (PCa) remains largely unknown. In the present study, we found that miR-326 expression level was significantly downregulated in both primary PCa and castration-resistant PCa (CRPC) tissue samples as detected by qRT-PCR. Downregulation of miR-326 was closely associated with aggressive progression and poor prognosis of primary PCa patients. Gain- and lose- functional experiments revealed that forced expression of miR-326 significantly inhibited cell proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion, induced G0/G1 cell cycle arrest, and promoted apoptosis in PCa cells in vitro, whereas, knockdown of miR-326 expression showed the opposite results. Overexpression of miR-326 also suppressed tumor growth in xenografted nude mice in vivo. Moreover, Luciferase reporter, qRT-PCR, and western blot assays identified that the 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) of Mucin1 (MUC1) was a direct target region of miR-326. Spearman's correlation analysis also confirmed an inverse relationship between miR-326 and MUC1 expressions in primary PCa tissue samples. In addition, restoration of MUC1 expression effectively abrogated the inhibitory effects of miR-326 on PCa proliferation, invasion and migration through the activation of JNK signaling pathway. Therefore, these data indicated that miR-326 functioned as a tumor suppressor in PCa by negatively regulating MUC1, and that miR-326 might serve as a potential therapeutic candidate for PCa treatment. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
  Fig. 4. miR-326 induces G0 G1 cell cycle arrest and promotes cell apoptosis in PCa cells. ... cell apoptosis (B) of LNCap, PC-3, and DU145 cells with miR-326 mimics or miR-326 inhibitor transfection for 24u2009h are examined by flow cytometry detection. Some of these plots look more like decalcomania than flow cytometry but I am unlettered in the folkways of FACS and for all I know the plotting software comes with a Decalcomania option. Even so, the similarity of the two panels at lower right (LNCAP and DU145 cells transfected with miR-326-in) makes it unlikely that they came from separate cell cultures.  , 
 #1 Figure 3 D E numerous suspected duplications that I ran out of color shape patience.  ,