Objective To investigate the expression and clinical significance of microRNA-218 (miR-218) in human cervical cancer and the effects ofmiR-218 on proliferation, cell apoptosis and invasion of HeLa cells. Methods QRT-PCR was used to detect the expression ofmiR-218 in 23 cases of normal cervical tissues and 114 cases of cervical cancer, and the relationship between the expression and the clinicopathological features was analyzed; HeLa cells were devided into three groups: non transfection (control group), transfected with empty liposomes negative control goup (NC group), transfected with miR-218 mimic (miR-218M group). The cell growth inhibiting ratio of HeLa cells was assessed by MTT assay. Fluorescence activated cell sorting was used to measure cell apoptosis. Changes of cell migration ability were detected by wound healing test and Transwell assay. QRT-PCR and Western blot were used to detect the expression of Bcl-2, Bax, NF-κB and E-cadherin, respectively. Results The expression ofmiR-218 in cervical cancer was down regulated, and there were significant differences in the different pathological types, stages, lymph node metastasis and interstitial infiltration in cervical cancer tissues (P <0.01); After being transfected with miR-218 mimic, the proliferation of HeLa cells was significantly inhibited. The ability of invasion was decreased. QRT-PCR and Western blot showed that after being transfected with miR-218 mimic, the expression levels of Bcl-2 mRNA and protein were down-regulated and Bax mRNA and protein expression levels were increased, E-cadherin mRNA and protein expression were up-regulated, but NF -κB mRNA and protein expression were down-regulated. Conclusion The low-expression of miR-218 is correlated with the poor clinicopathological features in human cervical cancer. MiR-218 overexpression reduces cancer cell proliferation and induces apoptosis and inhibits cell migration, suggesting that miR-218 may play a key role in the progression of human cervical cancer.
