Wnt/β-Catenin activates MiR-183/96/182 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma that promotes cell invasion

• miR-183/96/182 upregulation predicts shorter recurrence free survival in HCC patients.
• Functionally, miR-183, -96 and -182 promotes cellular invasion and migration of HCC cells.
• MiR-183, -96 and -182 concomitantly and directly targets FOXO1 3′ untranslated region.
• Over-expression of miR-183, -96 and -182 is caused by β-catenin activation in HCC.

Nearly 50% of known miRNAs are found in clusters and transcribed as polycistronic transcripts. In this study, we showed that over-expression of miR-183/96/182 cluster is frequent in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a highly aggressive malignancy that is commonly fatal. In a cohort of HCC patients (n = 81), miR-183/96/182 up-regulation correlated with metastatic features including presence of microvascular invasion, advanced tumor differentiation, and shorter recurrence-free survival. Univariate and multivariate analyses further showed miR-183/96/182 over-expression represented an independent prognostic factor (Relative Risk: 2.0471; P = 0.0289). Functional investigation using siRNA against miR-183/96/182 in two invasive HCC cells indicated significant inhibition on cell migration and invasion without affecting cell viability. Forkhead boxO1 (FOXO1) was further validated as a downstream target of these three miRNAs. In investigating the regulatory mechanism underlining miR-183/96/182 over-expression, a direct interaction of CTNNB1 on the promoter region was confirmed by ChIP-PCR and luciferase reporter validations. Knockdown of CTNNB1 also showed concordant down-regulations of miR-183, -96 and -182, and the re-expression of FOXO1. Our findings demonstrated that over-expression of miR-183/96/182 confers an oncogenic function in HCC cell dissemination, and could serve as an independent prognostic predictor for HCC patients.