MicroRNA-149 inhibits the progression of lung adenocarcinoma through targeting RAP1B and inactivating Wnt/β-catenin pathway.

Objective: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important regulators in the progression of lung adenocarcinoma (LAD). Moreover, microRNA-149 (miR-149) exhibits different roles in human cancers. Hence, this study mainly focused on the function of miR-149 in LAD.
Patients and Methods: Western blot analysis and Real Time-quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR) were used to quantify expression levels. The regulatory mechanism of miR-149/RAP1B was explored by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT), transwell, and Dual-Luciferase reporter assays.
Results: Downregulation of miR-149 was detected in LAD and predicted worse prognosis in patients with LAD. Functionally, overexpression of miR-149 inhibited cell viability and metastasis in LAD. In addition, miR-149 directly targets RAP1B and restrained its expression in LAD. Furthermore, upregulation of RAP1B attenuated the inhibitory effect of miR-149 on LAD. Besides that, miR-149 blocked epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and Wnt/β-catenin pathway in LAD.
Conclusions: MiR-149 inhibited the progression of LAD by restraining RAP1B/EMT and inactivating Wnt/β-catenin pathway.