Down-regulation of microRNA-135b inhibited growth of cervical cancer cells by targeting FOXO1

More and more evidence has confirmed that dysregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) can conduce to the progression of human cancers. Previous studied have shown that dysregulation of miR-135b is in varieties of tumors. However, the roles of miR-135b in cervical cancer remain unknown. Therefore, our aim of this study was to explore the biological function and molecular mechanism of miR-135b in cervical cancer cell lines, discussing whether it could be a therapeutic biomarker of cervical cancer in the future. The MTT assay and ELISA-Brdu assay were used to assess cell proliferation. Cell cycle was detected by flow cytometry. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Western blot analyses were used to detect expressions of cyclin D1, p21, p27 and FOXO1. In our study, we found that miR-135b is up-regulated in cervical cancer cell lines. Down-regulation of miR-135b evidently inhibited proliferation and arrested cell cycle in cervical cancer cells. Bioinformatics analysis predicted that the FOXO1 was a potential target gene of miR-135b. Besides, miR-135b inhibition significantly increased expressions of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors, p21^/CIP1 and p27^/KIP1, and decreased expression of cyclin D1. However, the high level of miR-135b was associated with increased expression of FOXO1 in cervical cancer cells. Further study by luciferase reporter assay demonstrated that miR-135b could directly target FOXO1. Down-regulation of FOXO1 in cervical cancer cells transfected with miR-135b inhibitor partially reversed its inhibitory effects. In conclusion, down-regulation of miR-135b inhibited cell growth in cervical cancer cells by up-regulation of FOXO1.