Retracted : MicroRNA‐145 performs as a tumor suppressor in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma by targeting phospholipase C epsilon 1

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is the leading pathologic type in China. miR‐145 has been reported to be downregulated in multiple tumors. This study was aimed to investigate the role of miR‐145 in ESCC. miR‐145 expression was investigated in 65 ESCC samples as well as four ESCC cell lines by quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (qRT‐PCR). Targetscan 6.2 website ( http://www.targetscan.org/ ) was used to predict the targets of miR‐145. Expression of phospholipase C epsilon 1 (PLCE1) messenger RNA and protein was detected by qRT‐PCR or Western blot. MTT and wound healing assay were conducted to explore the effects of miR‐145 on the proliferation and migration of ESCC cell lines, respectively. miR‐145 was significantly decreased in ESCC tissues. An inverse correlation between miR‐145 and invasion depth and TNM stage were observed. PLCE1 was a direct target of miR‐145, and the expression of PLCE1 was inversely correlated with miR‐145 expression in ESCC tissues. In addition, overexpression of miR‐145 suppressed cell proliferation and migration in ESCC cells. The enforced expression of PLCE1 partially reversed the suppressive effect of miR‐145. These results prove that miR‐145 may perform as a tumor suppressor in ESCC by targeting PLCE1.