MicroRNA miR-425 promotes tumor progression by inhibiting Dickkopf-related protein-3 in gastric cancer

Gastric cancer is a prevalent yet heterogeneous disease which ranks as the fifth most common cancer in the world. Dietary habit, genetic background, <i>Helicobacter Pylori</i> infections were the risk factors of gastric cancer. MicroRNA miR-425 is highly expressed in gastric cancer, but little attention has been devoted to the mechanism of miR-425 in tumorigenesis. This study aim to investigate the role of miR-425 in gastric cancer. The expression of miR-425 and Dickkopf-related protein-3(DKK-3) were analyzed by qRT-PCR. Gastric cell line BGC-823 and SGC-7901 were transfected miR-425 inhibitors or NC. Then, cell viability was determined by CCK-8, cell apoptosis and cell cycle were assessed by flow cytometer. Cell migration and cell invasion were analyzed by wound healing and trans-well assays. Luciferase reporter assay was conducted to assess the correlation between miR-425 and DKK-3. Downstream regulators, such as p-ASK1 and p-JNK, were analysis by western blot. Compared with normal gastric epithelium cell line, miR-425 was obviously upregulated in gastric cancer cell lines. MiR-425 inhibitor suppressed the cell viability, cell migration and cell invasion. The Luciferase assay data identified that DKK-3 is a target of miR-425. While miR-425 could lower the expression of DKK-3 which mediate tumorigenesis in a certain way.