Differential expression profile analysis of cisplatin-regulated miRNAs in a human gastric cancer cell line

Cisplatin, one of the most commonly used drugs in combination chemotherapy, is an effective anti-tumor agent widely used for diverse tumor types. MicroRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) are involved in the occurrence, development, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to explore whether cisplatin exerts anticancer effects by causing differential expression of miRNAs in human gastric cancer cells. The human gastric cancer cell line NCI-N87 was cultured with a certain dose of cisplatin and high-throughput sequencing combined with reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was performed to detect cisplatin-regulated miRNAs. miRNAs upregulated and downregulated following cisplatin exposure were analyzed. High-throughput sequencing revealed 33 upregulated and 16 downregulated miRNAs. A total of five significantly upregulated and five significantly downregulated miRNAs were identified by RT-qPCR. The expression levels of hsa-miR-1246 and hsa-miR-892b were consistent with the results obtained from high-throughput sequencing. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway clustering of cisplatin-regulated miRNAs revealed that the miRNAs regulated genes involved in several biological processes and signaling pathways. The results obtained in the current study suggested that cisplatin may exert an important anticancer effect in gastric cancer via complex biological processes and signaling pathways.