PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Yu, Xuechen AU - Zhang, Yuanzhen AU - Zhang, Wei AU - Chen, Huijun TI - MicroRNA-200c suppresses epithelial-mesenchymal transition of ovarian cancer by targeting cofilin-2 AID - 10.1101/449587 DP - 2018 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 449587 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/10/22/449587.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/10/22/449587.full AB - This study investigated the effects of microRNA-200c (miR-200c) and cofilin-2 (CFL2) in regulating epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in ovarian cancer. The level of miR-200c was lower in invasive SKOV3 cells than that in non-invasive OVCAR3 cells, whereas CFL2 showed the opposite trend. Bioinformatics analysis and dual-luciferase reporter gene assays indicated that CFL2 was a direct target of miR-200c. Furthermore, SKOV3 and OVCAR3 cells were transfected with miR-200c mimic or inhibitor, pCDH-CFL2 (CFL2 overexpression), or CFL2 shRNA (CFL2 silencing). MiR-200c inhibition and CFL2 overexpression resulted in elevated levels of both CFL2 and vimentin while reducing E-cadherin expression. They also increased ovarian cancer cell invasion and migration in vitro and in vivo and increased the tumor volumes. Conversely, miR-200c mimic and CFL2 shRNA exerted the opposite effects as those aforementioned. In addition, the effects of pCDH-CFL2 and CFL2 shRNA were reversed by the miR-200c mimic and inhibitor, respectively. This finding suggested that miR-200c could be a potential tumor suppressor by targeting CFL2 in the EMT process.