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Mir-152 inhibits cell proliferation and colony formation of CD133+ liver cancer stem cells by targeting KIT

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Tumor Biology

Abstract

miR152 is involved in diverse biological functions and development of disease. This study investigates the role of mir-152 in cell proliferation and colony formation of liver cancer stem cells. We show that exogenous overexpression of mir-152 suppresses cell proliferation and colony formation in CD133+ hep3B cells. We also show that KIT is a direct target of miR-152 and miR-152 downregulates protein expression of KIT by directly binding to 3′ untranslated region of KIT. Downregulation of KIT by specific siRNAs inhibits proliferation and colony formation of CD133+ hep3B cells, which is similar to inhibitory effects of miR-152. Moreover, exogenous expression of KIT compromises inhibitory effects of miR-152 on cell proliferation and colony formation. Our findings suggest that mir-152 inhibits cell proliferation and colony formation of CD133+ hep3B cells by targeting KIT.

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Acknowledgments

The present study was supported by grants from the Science and Technology Program of Guangdong Province (2008B030301028) and the Science and Technology Innovation Fund of Guangdong Medical College (STI F201107).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Research Center, the Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical College, 524001, Zhanjiang, China

    Haili Huang & Peng Li

  2. Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, the Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical College, 524001, Zhanjiang, China

    Min Hu, Caijie Lu & Mingyi Li

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  1. Haili Huang
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  2. Min Hu
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  3. Peng Li
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  4. Caijie Lu
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  5. Mingyi Li
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Correspondence to Mingyi Li.

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Haili Huang, Min Hu, and Peng Li contribute equally to this work.

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Huang, H., Hu, M., Li, P. et al. Mir-152 inhibits cell proliferation and colony formation of CD133+ liver cancer stem cells by targeting KIT. Tumor Biol. 36, 921–928 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-014-2719-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-014-2719-x

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