MiRNA-429 suppresses the growth of gastric cancer cells in vitro

Micro-RNAs (miRNAs) have been found to be implicated in a very wide range of physiological processes. This study was aimed to investigate the regulation of miRNA-429 (miR-429) in gastric cancer cells on cell proliferation and apoptosis. Quantitative PCR was employed to detect the expressions of miR-429 after eukaryotic expression plasmid of miR-429 and its inhibitor were transiently transfected into poorly differentiated human gastric cancer cell line BGC823. The 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) reduction assays were used to examine proliferation ability. Apoptosis was analyzed by flow cytometry after transfection. The results showed that 48 h after transfection, overexpression of miR-429 reached maximum efficiency. Compared with mock transfection, miR-429 inhibited tumor cell proliferation significantly (P < 0.05) at 48 h and 72 h. of Overexpression of miR-429 promoted tumor cell apoptosis when compared with mock transfected cells (P < 0.05). On the contrary, miR-429 inhibitor promoted tumor cell proliferation and inhibited apoptosis when compared with controls (P < 0.05). Our results suggested that miRNA-429 may serve as a tumor suppressor during tumorigenesis of gastric cancer and may be a potential gastric cancer therapeutic target.