miR-202 promoted cell proliferation of prostate cancer by targeting SOX7

Objective: To investigate whether miR-202 regulate the proliferation of prostate cancer (PC) via SOX7 gene. Methods: Real-time quantitative PCR analysis was performed to observe the expression level of miR-202 in three PC cell lines (DU145, PC3, and LNCaP) and issues. Then, miR-202 mimic and the negative control were transfected to DU145, PC3 cell lines to explore the relationship between miR-202 and the proliferation of the PC cells in vitro. Meanwhile, bioinformatical prediction was performed to discover the target gene of the miR-202 (SOX7) which was confirmed by luciferase reporter assay. Moreover, the DU145 and PC3 cell lines were transfected with siRNA-SOX7 or the negative control to confirm the influence of SOX7 on the proliferation of PC. Additionally, the proliferation assay of PC3 cells adopted MTT method. Results: miR-202 expression was up-regulated in PC cell lines and tissues. The MTT assay revealed that the over-expression of miR-202 significantly promoted the proliferation of the PC cells in vitro. The SOX7 was the direct target of the miR-202 and miR-202 down-regulated the expression of SOX7 which was confirmed by the luciferase reporter assay. The knockdown of SOX7 remarkably promoted the proliferation of PC cells in vitro that verified by the MTT assay. Conclusion: The miR-202 could promote the proliferation of PC by targeting the SOX7, indicating a new potential therapeutic target and treatment for the PC.