miR-7-5p suppresses cell proliferation and induces apoptosis of breast cancer cells mainly by targeting REGγ

Proteasome activator subunit 3 (REG gamma) has a key role in breast cancer by promoting protein proteolysis, but methods to block REG gamma expression remain elusive. In this study, we found that the expression of REG gamma is significantly upregulated in breast cancer, and that the knockdown of REG gamma expression suppresses cell proliferation and induces apoptosis in vitro. Furthermore, REG gamma was identified as a direct downstream target of miR-7-5p, and there was an inverse correlation between the expression of REG gamma and miR-7-5p. The overexpression of miR-7-5p inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis by mainly targeting REG gamma in vitro and in vivo. Our data indicate that miR-7-5p has a critical function through blocking REG gamma in breast cancer cells. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.