MicroRNA-185 suppresses proliferation, invasion, migration, and tumorigenicity of human prostate cancer cells through targeting androgen receptor

Previous studies have shown that androgen receptor (AR) is involved in the progression of prostate cancer (CaP) by several mechanisms. However, how AR is regulated has not been fully understood. In this study, miR-185 was found to be down-regulated in clinical CaP samples. Targets prediction revealed that AR had putative complementary sequences to miR-185, which was confirmed by the following dual luciferase reporter assay. Overexpression of miR-185 could reduce the expression of AR protein but not mRNA in LNCaP cells. The proliferation of LNCaP cells was inhibited by overexpression of miR-185. Cell cycle analysis revealed cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase. The invasive and migration abilities of cells could also be suppressed by miR-185. Furthermore, miR-185 inhibited tumorigenicity in a CaP xenografts model. CDC6, one target of AR and an important regulatory molecule for cell cycle, was found to be down-regulated by overexpression of miR-185. Our findings suggest that miR-185 could function as a tumor-suppressor gene in CaP by directly targeting AR, and act as a potential therapeutic target for CaP.