MicroRNA-378 acts as a prognosis marker and inhibits cell migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in human glioma by targeting IRG1

OBJECTIVE: Glioma is one common intracranial malignancy. Recently, there has been a large volume of published studies describing the functions of microRNAs as potential diagnostic markers for glioma. Data from several sources revealed that miR-378 played crucial roles in multiple tumors. However, much uncertainty still exists about the functions and underlying mechanism of miR-378. The purpose of the present work was to evaluate the potential effect of miR-378 and verify its influence on the function of IRG1 in glioma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The miR-378 expression was examined in 52 pairs of glioma tissues using quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR). Transwell assays were conducted to detect the capability of glioma cell migration and invasion with different transfections. Luciferase reporter was used to confirm whether miR-378 could regulate immune responsive gene 1 (IRG1). Western blot was used to measure the expressions of EMT-related markers. RESULTS: miR 378 expressions were notably reduced in glioma cells and tissues in comparison with controls. The declined miR-378 expressions were correlated with the poor OS and worse clinicopathological parameters of glioma patients. Overexpression of miR-378 repressed glioma cell epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and metastasis as well as the tumor growth rate and tumor size of glioma mice. Additionally, IRG1 was markedly up-regulated in glioma and was confirmed as a direct target for miR 378 in glioma. CONCLUSIONS: We showed that the suppressive role of miR-378 in glioma, which was regulated by IRG1, suggested that the miR-378/IRG1 axis may be an effective target for glioma treatment.