MicroRNA-10b promotes migration and invasion through CADM1 in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells

MicroRNA-10b (miR-10b) was recently reported to be dysregulated in some types of cancer and to play a role in invasion and metastasis. However, effects and potential mechanisms of action of miR-10b in the metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have not been explored. In this study, we confirmed that miR-10b is highly expressed in metastatic HCC tissues and in metastatic HCC cell lines by qRT-PCR. Moreover, patients with higher miR-10b expression had significantly poorer overall survival, and high miR-10b expression was an independent predictor of poor prognosis. Inhibition of miR-10b reduced cell migration and invasion in MHCC97H cells, whereas over-expression of miR-10b in HepG2 cells increased cell migration and invasion. Bioinformatics and luciferase reporter assays revealed that miR-10b binds the 3′-UTR of CADM1 mRNA and represses its translation. Western blot and qRT-PCR showed that CADM1 is inhibited by miR-10b over-expression. Silencing of CADM1 resulted in substantially increased cell motility and invasion similar to that observed with over-expression of miR-10b in HepG2 cells. These results suggest that miR-10b may positively regulate the invasion and metastasis of HCC through targeting CADM1.