MicroRNA-424-5p enhances chemosensitivity of breast cancer cells to Taxol and regulates cell cycle, apoptosis, and proliferation

Combination therapy has been considered as a potential method to overcome the BC chemoresistance. MicroRNAs (miRs) have been suggested as a therapeutic factor in the combination therapy of BC. This project aimed at examining the possible activity and molecular function of miR-424-5p and Taxol combination in the human BC cell line. MDA-MB-231 cells were treated with miR-424-5p mimics and Taxol, in a combined manner or separately. We used the MTT test for assessing the cell proliferation. In addition, flow-cytometry was used for evaluating apoptosis and cell-cycle. Expression levels of underlying molecular factors of miR-424-5p were assessed using western-blotting and qRT-PCR. The obtained results demonstrated that miR-424-5p repressed BC cell proliferation and sensitized these cells to Taxol treatment through the induction of apoptosis. Further investigations showed that miR-424-5p might increase BC chemosensitivity through the regulation of apoptosis-related factors including P53, Caspase-3, Bcl-2, and Bax as well as the proliferation-related gene c-Myc. Moreover, miR-424-5p restoration in combination with Taxol treatment decreased the colony formation by regulating Oct-4 and led to G2 arrest via modulating Cdk-2 expression. Western-blotting demonstrated that miR-424-5p may perform its anti-chemoresistance role by regulating the PD-L1 expression and controlling PTEN/PI3K/AKT/mTOR. Overall, the upregulation of miR-424-5p was indicated to upregulate the sensitivity of BC cells to treatment with Taxol. MiR-424-5p might regulate the chemosensitivity of the BC cell line by modulating PD-L1 and controlling the PTEN/mTOR axis. Therefore, the combination of miR-424-5p with Taxol would represent a novel procedure to treat against BC.