MiRNA-107 enhances chemosensitivity to paclitaxel by targeting antiapoptotic factor Bcl-w in non small cell lung cancer

The aim of this study is to elucidate whether and how miR-107 participates in the modulation of paclitaxel sensitivity in non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). By qRT-PCR, we found that miR-107 is significantly down-regulated in paclitaxel-resistant A549/Taxol cells compared with corresponding paclitaxel-sensitive counterparts. Overexpression of miR-107 suppresses paclitaxel resistance of A549/Taxol cells through directly inhibiting Bcl-w. Overexpression of miR-107 promotes apoptosis and inhibits proliferation and mobility of A549/Taxol cells under treatment with paclitaxel in vitro. Moreover, miR-107 inhibits in vivo paclitaxel resistance in xenograft model. MiR-107/Bcl-w axis regulates paclitaxel chemoresistance through PI3K-Akt pathway. Our results suggest that up-regulation of miR-107 resensitizes paclitaxel-resistant NSCLC cells by targeting Bcl-w, which reveals a potential mechanism of miR-107 in reversing drug resistance.