miR-22 suppresses cell viability and EMT of ovarian cancer cells via NLRP3 and inhibits PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.
PURPOSE
miR-22 plays a great role in inhibiting cell growth, metastasis and enhanced cell apoptosis in several cancers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the functions of miR-22 in ovarian cancer.


METHODS
The proliferative ability was measured using CCK-8 assay. The protein expression associated with EMT and PI3K/AKT signaling biomarkers were measured by western blot. Luciferase assay applied to measure the luciferase activity. Kaplan-Meier method was performed to evaluate the overall survival rate of ovarian cancers.


RESULTS
miR-22 was low expressed and NLRP3 was overexpressed in ovarian cancer tissues and cells, and downregulation of miR-22 was associated with poor prognosis. The expression of NLRP3 had a negative correlation with miR-22 expression in ovarian cancer. miR-22 promoted cell viability and EMT through directly binding to the 3'-UTR of NLRP3 mRNA and inhibited PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. NLRP3 partially restored functions of miR-22 on cell proliferation and EMT in ovarian cancer.


CONCLUSION
miR-22 impaired cell viability and EMT by NLRP3 and inhibited PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in ovarian cancer. The newly identified miR-22/NLRP3/PI3K/AKT axis provides novel insight into the pathogenesis of ovarian cancer.
['Wu|H|H|', 'Liu|J|J|', 'Zhang|Y|Y|', 'Li|Q|Q|', 'Wang|Q|Q|', 'Gu|Z|Z|http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6753-0837']
D020413:3' Untranslated Regions D049109:Cell Proliferation D002470:Cell Survival D015536:Down-Regulation D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition D005260:Female D006801:Humans D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate D008156:Luciferases D035683:MicroRNAs D000071199:NLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases D011379:Prognosis D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt D012333:RNA, Messenger
miR-22 Viability EMT Ovarian cancer PI3K/AKT