Hyperglycaemia-induced over-expression of miR-301a promotes the proliferation of prostate cancer cells by repressing Smad4 and p21.. Rattus norvegicus

We found a novel molecular link between hyperglycaemia and the increased frequency of aggressive prostate cancer. High glucose was demonstrated to increase the expression of miR-301a which targeted Smad4 and p21, resulted in promoting the proliferation of prostate cancer cells. Overall design: male 12-week-old SD rats (weight 230?280 g), obtained from Sun Yat-sen University Experimental Animal Center (Guangzhou, China), were randomly divided into the diabetes and the control groups Hyperglycaemic and control rats were constructed as described previously by intraperitoneal injection of STZ, which destroys the pancreas and causes hyperglycaemia. Total RNA samples were harvested using Trizol (Invitrogen) and an RNeasy mini kit (Qiagen) according to the manufacturers’ instructions.