Analysis of microRNA Expression Profiling Identifies microRNA-503 Regulates Metastatic Function in Hepatocellular Cancer Cell

Background and Objectives: Metastasis of cancer is a complex process that involves multiple alterations. Recent evidence indicates that small non-protein coding RNA molecules (miRNAs) might be involved in cancer-related processes in humans. This study was to systematically investigate the differentially expressed miRNAs during metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using microarray technology. Methods: The differentially expressed miRNAs between HCCLM3 and MHCC97-L, two HCC cell lines with differently metastatic potentials were displayed using microarray technology. The expression of miR-503 was verified by the real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. In addition, the lentivirus-delivered system for expressing miR-503 in HCCLM3 cells was employed to investigate whether miR-503 was involved in invasive phenotype of HCC cell. Results: Our study built a metastasis-related miRNAs expression profiling, which includes 327 miRNAs expressed differentially between HCCLM3 and MHCC97-L cell lines. Furthermore, expression of miR-503 by lentivirus-delivered system in HCCLM3 cell was established successfully. Our results showed that miR-503 induces a G1 arrest and decreased proliferation for HCCLM3 cell (P < 0.05). In addition, miR-503 inhibits migration and invasion of HCCLM3 cell in vitro (P < 0.05). Conclusions: This study described a metastasis-related miRNAs expression profiling and revealed miR-503 regulating metastatic function in HCC cell. J. Surg. Oncol. 2011;104:278-283. (C) 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.