Fluorouracil induces autophagy-related gastric carcinoma cell death through Beclin-1 upregulation by miR-30 suppression

The molecular mechanisms underlying the anticancer effects of chemotherapy drugs are not completely understood. Here, we studied the effects of fluorouracil (5-FU) on gastric carcinoma (GC) cells. We found that 5-FU dose-dependently inhibited the growth of GC cells, in either a cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay or a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Moreover, autophagy-associated protein 6 (ATG6) or Beclin-1 was dose-dependently activated by 5-FU in GC cells. Further, microRNA (miR)-30 was found to be regulated by 5-FU, and bioinformatics analysis showed that miR-30 targeted the 3'-UTR of Beclin-1 to inhibit its translation. Together, these data suggest that 5-FU may suppress miR-30 to upregulate Beclin-1 to induce autophagic cell death and cell proliferation arrest in GC cells.