MiR-429 suppresses glioblastoma multiforme by targeting SOX2

Accumulating evidence has shown that miR-429 plays an important role in the development and progression of tumour. However, the role of miR-429 in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) remains largely unknown. The present study is designed to investigate the function of miR-429 in GBM and to explore the molecular mechanism underlying its function. The expression level of miR-429 was detected in GBM tissues and cell lines by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. The effect of overexpression of miR-429 on in vitro cell proliferation, apoptosis and invasion was examined. Western blot analysis was used to detect the influence of miR-429 on the expression of target gene, and Pearson analysis was used to calculate the correlation between the expression of targets gene and the miR-429 in GBM tissues. Our study shows that miR-429 is downregulated in GBM tissues compared with noncancerous tissues (P < .01). In addition, the expression of miR-429 in GBM cell lines is also significantly lower (P < .01). Enforced expression of miR-429 inhibits GBM cells proliferation, induces apoptosis and suppresses invasion and leads to the downregulation of the SOX2 protein. Moreover, the expression level of miR-429 in GBM tissues shows inverse relationship with the expression level of SOX2 protein. Our findings suggest that miR-429 represents a potential tumour-suppressive miRNA and plays an important role in GBM progression by directly targeting SOX2.