MicroRNA-145 inhibits tumorigenesis and invasion of cervical cancer stem cells

MicroRNA (miR)-145 has been reported to induce cancer stem cell (CSC) differentiation through down-regulation of the stem cell transcription factors (TFs) that maintain CSC pluripotency. High expression of miR-145 indicates a good prognosis in cancer patients, but its role in cervical cancer stem cells (CCSCs) is not known. We show that expression of miR-145 and core stem cell transcription factors, Sox2, Nanog and Oct4, are associated with the pluripotency of CCSCs, with increased expression of miR-145 after cervical tumorsphere (CT) differentiation. miR-145 overexpression inhibited expression of core TFs, as well as decreasing tumor invasion and colony formation, whereas miR-145 knockdown led to the opposite effects. Injection of adenovirus-miR-145 significantly reduced tumor growth in nude mice. High miR-145 expression predicted a better prognosis compared with that in patients with low miR-145 expression after analyses of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data. These results suggest that miR-145 is able to induce CT differentiation through enzymolyzing TFs and might be a therapeutic target for cervical carcinoma.