Nicotine upregulates microRNA-21 and promotes TGF-β-dependent epithelial-mesenchymal transition of esophageal cancer cells

A consistent positive association between cigarette smoking and the human esophageal cancer has been confirmed all over the world. However, details in the association need to be more focused on and be identified. Recently, aberrantly expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to be promising biomarkers for understanding the tumorigenesis of a wide array of human cancers, including the esophageal cancer, and the deregulation on the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) by miRNAs is involved in the tumorigenesis. In present study, we were going to identify the role of nicotine-induced miR-21 in the EMT of esophageal cells. We found that there was an overexpression of miR-21 in esophageal specimens, having an association with cigarette smoking, and the upregulation of miR-21 was also induced by nicotine in esophageal carcinoma cell line, EC9706. Moreover, the upregulated miR-21 by nicotine promoted EMT transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) dependently. Thus, the present study reveals a novel oncogenic role of nicotine in human esophageal cancer.