MicroRNA-18a promotes cancer progression through SMG1 suppression and mTOR pathway activation in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

To search for molecular processes underlying miR-18a-mediated oncogenesis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC) cells, whole-genome mRNA microarray analysis was performed using the HumanGene Expression 4 x 44k v2 Microarray Kit (Agilent Technologies) in 6-10B cells with stable miR-18a overexpression and in 5-8F cells with transient silencing of miR-18a by siRNA. Differentially expressed genes in miR-18a-overexpressing cell and differentially expressed genes in miR-18a knockdown cells were analyzed. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC) cell line 6-10B cells with stable miR-18a overexpression, and NPC cell line 5-8F with transient silencing of miR-18a by siRNA were subjected to gene expression profiling using the HumanGene Expression 4 x 44k v2 Microarray Kit (Agilent Technologies). Differentially expressed genes were analyzed by by comparison of the treated cell lines with their corresponding untreated parental cell lines.