MiR-16-5p plays an inhibitory role in human non-small cell lung cancer through Fermitin family member 2

Increasing evidence indicates that aberrant expressions of some microRNAs are associated with cancer progression. However, the roles and biological mechanisms of miRNA-16-5p in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are not to be well studied. Here, we validated that the expression of miR-16-5p was decreased significantly in NSCLC samples and cell lines. The correlation between the clinicopathological features of NSCLC and the miR-16- 5p expression showed that the expression of miR-16-5p in non-small cell lung cancer was linked with the advanced TNM stage, positive lymph node metastasis, with short overall survival (OS). Also, a negative correlation between miR-16-5p and Fermitin family member 2 (FERMT2) was observed, implying there may be a potential link about their regulation. The hypothesis was further confirmed by in-silico analysis and dual-luciferase reporter assay. Moreover, we demonstrated that the transfections of miR-16-5p mimics could alter some biological characteristics of NSCLC cells remarkably accomplished by the expression variance of FERMT2 in vitro and in vivo assays. Summarily, this study demonstrated that miR-16-5p, as a tumor suppression factor in NSCLC by targeting FERMT2, could serve as one promising biomarker in the prediction for NSCLC patients.