MicroRNA-497 induces apoptosis through downregulating XIAP in hepatic cancer

Hepatic cancer is one of the important malignant tumors in digestive system. MicroRNAs regulate cell growth and other cell behaviors through signaling pathway. This study investigated the role of microRNA-497 on LM3 cell viability, proliferation, and apoptosis. MicroRNA-497 and scramble microRNA (miRNA) were synthetized and transfected to hepatic cancer cell line LM3 using lipofectamine. LM3 cell growth, proliferation, and apoptosis were evaluated by MTT assay, caspase-3 activity detection, and flow cytometry. XIAPL siRNA or plasmid was synthetized and transfected to LM3 cells before microRNA-497 transfection. XIAP protein expression was detected by Western blot. MicroRNA-497 transfection obviously reduced LM3 cell proliferation (P = 0.0068), increased phosphatidylserine eversion (P = 0.017), enhanced caspase-3 activation (P = 0.023), and downregulated XIAP expression level (P = 0.024). XIAP interference enhanced the effect of microRNA-497 on inducing LM3 cell apoptosis (P = 0.0067), while XIAP overexpression inhibited LM3 cell apoptosis triggered by microRNA-497 (P = 0.0082). MicroRNA-497 suppressed hepatic cancer cell line LM3 cell proliferation and induced cell apoptosis through downregulating XIAP, suggesting that XIAP might be a potential treatment target for hepatic cancer.