MicroRNA-202 inhibits tumor progression by targeting LAMA1 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most aggressive malignancies in the gastrointestinal tract. Emerging studies have indicated that microRNAs (miRNAs) are strongly implicated in the development and progression of ESCC. Here, we focused on the function and the underlying molecular mechanism of miR-202 in ESCC. The results showed that miR-202 was significantly down-regulated in ESCC tissues and cell lines. Overexpression of miR-202 in ECa-109 and KYSE-510 cells markedly suppressed cell proliferation and cell migration, and induced cell apoptosis. Furthermore, laminin α1 (LAMA1) expression was frequently positive in ESCC tissues and inversely correlated with miR-202 expression. Then we demonstrated that miR-202 targeted 3'-untranslated region (UTR) of LAMA1 and inhibited its protein expression. Additionally, LAMA1 overexpression rescued the proliferation inhibition and cell apoptosis elevation induced by miR-202. MiR-202 also inhibited the protein expression of p-FAK and p-Akt, which were all reversed by LAMA1 overexpression. Taken together, these findings suggest that miR-202 may function as a novel tumor suppressor in ESCC by repressing cell proliferation and migration, and its biological effects may attribute the inhibition of LAMA1-mediated FAK-PI3K-Akt signaling.