Suppression of the biological activity of neuroglioma cells by down-regulation of miR-1

Neuroglioma is associated with high rates of malignancy, metastasis, and recurrence. Recently, research on the roles of microRNAs (miR) in cancer prognosis has formed an important area of research as differential expression of miRNAs has been observed in different cancers. However, the detailed mechanism by which miRNAs regulate glioma remains unknown. Thus, we investigated the effect of miR-1 on human glioma by inhibiting the expression of miR-1. Anti-miR-1, an anti-sense oligonucleotide against miR-1, significantly reduced the level of miR-1 in the human glioma cell line U87 (P < 0.05). Further, cell proliferation and colony formation assays were used to determine the effect of miR-1 on cell growth. The scratch assay and cell migration assay were performed to evaluate cell invasion. Our data demonstrated that the growth of glioma cells was impeded due to the decrease in miR-1 levels, compared to the untransfected control cells (P < 0.05). Interestingly, the invasion and mobility of the cells were also retarded after transfection with anti-miR-1 (P < 0.05). In conclusion, our results indicate that the down-regulation of miR-1 significantly inhibited cell proliferation and reduced cell motility, suggesting that anti-miR-1 could be used as a therapeutic intervention tool to counter the activity of neuroglioma cells.