Tumor suppressor microRNA-27a in colorectal carcinogenesis and progression by targeting SGPP1 and Smad2
Authors: Weixing Zhao
Yonghua Bao
Jiaqi Wang
Yansheng Feng
Liang Wang
Wancai Yang
Wenliang Han
Zhiguo Chen
Jianguo Wang
Qian Wang
Yongchen Guo
Yunjuan Jiao
Huijuan Zhang
Zexin Li
Kai Li
Journal: PLoS ONE (2014)
Discipline: Multidisciplinary
Keywords: miRNA-27a; colorectal cancer; metastasis; clinical pathological stages; SGPP1
Affiliations: Department of Immunology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China., Department of Pathology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China., Department of Laboratory Medicine, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China., Department of Pathophysiology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China., Department of Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital, Xinxiang Medical University, Weihui, China., Department of Gastroenterology, Xinxiang Central Hospital, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China., Department of Pathology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China; Department of Pathology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States of America., Department of Pathology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China; Department of Pathology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.

Abstract:  The aberrant expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) is associated with colorectal carcinogenesis, but the underlying mechanisms are not clear. This study showed that the miRNA-27a (miR-27a) was significantly reduced in colorectal cancer tissues and colorectal cancer cell lines, and that the reduced miR-27a was associated with distant metastasis and colorectal cancer clinical pathological stages-miR-27a was lower at stages III/IV than that at stage II. Bioinformatic and systemic biological analysis predicted several targets of miR-27a, among them SGPP1 and Smad2 were significantly affected. SGPP1 and Smad2 at mRNA and protein levels were negatively correlated with miR-27a in human colorectal cancer tissues and cancer cell lines. Increased miR-27a significantly repressed SGPP1 and Smad2 at transcriptional and translational levels. Functional studies showed that increasing miR-27a inhibited colon cancer cell proliferation, promoted apoptosis and attenuated cell migration, which were also linked to downregulation of p-STAT3 and upregulation of cleaved caspase 3. In vivo, miR-27a inhibited colon cancer cell growth in tumor-bearing mice. Taken together, this study has revealed miR-27a as a tumor suppressor and has identified SGPP1 and Smad2 as novel targets of miR-27a, linking to STAT3 for regulating cancer cell proliferation, apoptosis and migration in colorectal cancer. Therefore, miR-27a could be a useful biomarker for monitoring colorectal cancer development and progression, and also could have a therapeutic potential by targeting SGPP1, Smad2 and STAT3 for colorectal cancer therapy. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 Figure 4D appears to have two images which overlap. *** ![file] , 
 #1 Thanks for your concern. In fact, those two images are similar but not identical, because the pictures were taken from the same area of the petri dish at different time points (24h and 48h) for dynamically monitoring cell growth and migration, and there were more cells at 48H . , 
 It is interesting to see that much of the data in this paper has been reused in another publication in Cancer Gene Therapy in 2015. https: www.nature.com articles s41417-021-00325-5#citeas , 
 #2 Thank you for responding. Perhaps the authors could point to some areas of difference in the highlighted region. After adjusting contrast and brightness to help analyze, I am unable to find the differences myself. *** ![file] ,