Restoration of miR-143 reduces migration and proliferation of bladder cancer cells by regulating signaling pathways involved in EMT

MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of regulatory endogenous short RNAs, are involved in various biological functions by targeting the mRNA of multiple protein-coding genes and influencing their related signaling pathways. In this investigation, we upregulated microRNA-143 (miR-143) expression levels in bladder cancer (BC) EJ138 cells by pCMV-miR-143 vectors. The efficacy of transfection was verified by Flow cytometry. The influence of miR-143 overexpression on BC cells migration, proliferation, and apoptosis was detected using wound-healing assay, MTT assay, and DAPI and Annexin V/PI staining, respectively. The results demonstrated that upregulation of miR-143 in BC EJ138 cells leads to inhibited proliferation and migration. Also, restoration of miR-143 was negatively associated with the expression levels of metastatic, apoptotic, invasion, and EMT-related genes, including C-Myc, CXCR4, MDM2, Vimentin, Snail-1, and MMP-9, along with increased E-Cadherin and TP53 expression. Therefore, miR-143 may be considered a potential therapeutic target for BC.