miR-483-3p promotes proliferation and migration of neuroblastoma cells by targeting PUMA

Neuroblastoma is the most common extra-cranial solid tumor in infants and children and accounts for about 15% of deaths from childhood cancers. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to play an important role in several cellular processes, such as cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, metastasis and angiogenesis, and therefore have been implicated in cancer progression. miR-483-3p is associated with neuroblastoma and is found to function as an 'onco-miR' in some malignancies. However, its role in neuroblastoma remains poorly understood. In this study, we confirmed that miR-483-3p is overexpressed in neuroblastoma tissue when compared with normal tissue and miR-483-3p expression is also associated with tumor stage. Overexpression of miR-483-3p substantially enhanced cell proliferation, migration, and invasion of neuroblastoma cells. miR-483-3p also promoted tumor growth of neuroblastoma in vivo. Both in vivo and in vitro experiments showed that the tumor suppressor PUMA was a target of miR-483-3p. Furthermore, down-regulation of PUMA by small interfering RNA (siRNA) exhibited similar effects to those observed as a result of overexpression of miR-483-3p. Our results indicate that miR-483-3p could function as an 'onco-miR' in human neuroblastoma and reveal a new and potentially important target for neuroblastoma anticancer therapy.