MiR-212-3p inhibits cell proliferation and promotes apoptosis by targeting nuclear factor IA in bladder cancer

Accumulating evidence suggest that microRNAs play crucial roles in the development and progression of bladder cancer (BC). Here, we found that miR-212-3p was significantly down-regulated and negatively correlated with nuclear factor IA (NFIA) in human BC tissues. Bioinformatics analysis predicted that NFIA was a target gene of miR-212-3p. Then BC cell lines, T24 and J82 cells were transfected with miR-212-3p mimics or siNFIA to obtain miR-212-3p overexpression or NFIA knockdown cell lines, respectively. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to determine the expression of miR-212-3p and NFIA. Western blot analysis was utilized to detect NFIA expression. MTT assay showed either miR-212-3 overexpression or NFIA knockdown significantly inhibited the BC cell proliferation. Double staining with Annexin V-APC and 7-AAD showed the total number of apoptotic BC cells were remarkably increased after miR-212-3p overexpression or NFIA knockdown. Collectively, our results indicated that miR-212-3p targeting NFIA might serve as a promising target for BC.