MicroRNA-6884-5p Regulates the Proliferation, Invasion, and EMT of Gastric Cancer Cells by Directly Targeting S100A16

S100 binding protein A16 (S100A16) expression levels are closely associated with microRNA (miRNA) processing. Higher levels of S100A16 arc reported during the progression of many cancers. Our study mainly explored the interaction between SI00A16 and miR-6884-5p in gastric cancer (GC). Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to determine the level of S100A16 and miR-6884-5p in GC tissues and cell lines. The si-S100A16, pcDNA-S100A16, miR-6884-5p mimic or inhibitor was transfected into GC cells, and the effects of SI00A16 and miR-6884-5p on the proliferation, invasion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) were explored by qRT-PCR and Western blot assays. Luciferase assays were performed to validate SI00A16 as an miR-6884-5p target in GC cells. In our study, we found that the level of miR-6884-5p was significantly decreased and the expression of S100A16 was significantly increased in GC tissues and cell lines. There was a close association between these changes. Knockdown of S100A16 significantly inhibited the proliferation, invasion, and EMT of GC cells. The bioinformatics analysis predicted that SI00A16 is a potential target gene of miR-6884-5p, and the luciferase reporter assay confirmed that miR-6884-5p could directly target SI00A16. Introduction of miR-6884-5p to GC cells had similar effects to SI00A16 silencing. Overexpression of S100A16 in GC cells partially reversed the inhibitory effects of the miR-6884-5p mimic. miR-6884-5p inhibited the proliferation, invasion, and EMT of GC cells by directly decreasing SI00A16 expression.