miR-504 promotes tumour growth and metastasis in human osteosarcoma by targeting TP53INP1

An increasing number of studies have demonstrated that microRNAs participate in the development of osteosarcoma by acting as tumour suppressor or tumour-promoting genes. We investigated the role of miR-504 in the growth and metastasis of osteosarcoma. The expression of miR-504 in clinical osteosarcoma samples was higher than that in the adjacent normal tissue and correlated with tumour size and clinical stage. Tumour protein p53-inducible nuclear protein 1 (TP53INP1) was downregulated in the clinical osteosarcoma samples compared with the adjacent normal tissues and was consistently correlated with the clinical stage. The results of dual-luciferase reporter assay and western blot analysis demonstrated that the TP53INP1 gene is a direct target of miR-504. Altogether, the Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8), the colony formation, the flow cytometry and the Transwell assay results demonstrated that miR-504 promoted osteosarcoma cell growth and metastasis in vitro. P73, P21, Bax, cleaved-caspase-3 and secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC) were associated with the suppressive role of miR-504/TP53INP1. The overexpression of miR-504 in osteosarcoma xenografts enhanced the tumour growth and increased the metastatic burden. Collectively, these results revealed that TP53INP1 is a target gene of miR-504 and that miR-504 enhances osteosarcoma growth and promotes distant metastases by targeting TP53INP1. Thus, miR-504/TP53INP1 may be associated with osteosarcoma size and clinical stage.