Bufalin Inhibits Cellular Proliferation and Cancer Stem Cell-Like Phenotypes via Upregulation of MiR-203 in Glioma

Abstract

Background/Aims: Prior studies have shown that bufalin inhibits cellular proliferation and induces apoptosis in various human cancers. MicroRNA-203 (miR-203) has been shown to function as an important regulator of tumor progression at various stages. In this study, we investigated the effect of miR-203 expression and bufalin treatment on glioma cell proliferation and stem cell-like phenotypes. Methods: We used cell viability assay, colony formation assay, cell apoptosis assay and neurosphere formation assay to dectect the treatment effect of bufalin on U251 and U87 cells. Cells were transfected with the miR-203 mimic without bufalin treatment or cells were transfected with anti-miR-203 under bufalin treatment, the above expreiments were repeated. RT-PCR was employed to quantify miR-203 expression. Western blot was performed to detect the stem cell-like (CSC) markers, OCT4 and SOX2. Luciferase activity assay was used to determine whether the SPARC is the target of miR-203. Results: Bufalin treatment inhibited cell proliferation, colony formation, and CSC phenotypes and increased cell apoptosis and expression of miR-203. Furthermore, overexpression of miR-203 led to similar outcomes as bufalin treatment with respect to the cell viability, colony formation, cell apoptosis and the phenotypes of glioma cells. While anti-miR-203 attenuated the inhibitory effects of bufalin as promoting cell proliferation, colony formation and CSC phenotyes and inhibiting cell apoptosis. In addition, we identified SPARC as a novel target gene of miR-203. Conclusions: These findings suggest that miR-203 plays an important role in bufalin’s ability to inhibit the growth of glioma cells and the development of stem cell-like phenotypes.

H19 Functions as a Competing Endogenous RNA to Regulate EMT by Sponging miR-130a-3p in Glioma

“…Neurosphere culture cells were grown in stem cell medium consisting of DMEM/F12 (Gibco) supplemented with 1% N2, 2% B27 (Invitrogen), 20 ng/mL epidermal growth factor, and fbroblast growth factor-2 (Invitrogen) as previously indicated [23].…”

microRNA-203 Modulates Wound Healing and Scar Formation via Suppressing Hes1 Expression in Epidermal Stem Cells

“…One of these important miRNAs is miR-203. Previous studies have shown that miR-203 exhibits potent antiproliferative function [18][19][20] and is involved in regulating the balance between stem cell proliferation and terminal differentiation in skin cells, by targeting p63 when stem cells in the epidermis are proliferating and differentiating into stratified epithelium [21]. miR-203 has the highest level of expression in the skin [22].…”

In Vitro and In Vivo Inhibitory Effect of Gujin Xiaoliu Tang in Non‐Small Cell Lung Cancer

“…Clinical reports revealed that GJXLT can prolong the median survival time in NSCLC patients [ 13 , 14 ]. Pharmacological experimental studies have demonstrated that the effective components of the herbs in GJXLT formula, such as bufalin of Corium Bufonisgecko and ginsenoside of Ginseng, play a vital role in the anti-tumor effect by inhibiting cellular proliferation [ 18 , 19 ]. In this study, we confirmed the anti-tumor efficacy of GJXLT.…”