Upregulation of microRNA-451 increases cisplatin sensitivity of non-small cell lung cancer cell line (A549)

Background: recently,mir-451 as a tumor suppressor has been reported in other studies. however,whether mir-451 can affect the sensitivity of non-small cell lung cancer (nsclc) cells to cisplatin (ddp) remains unclear. the aim of this study is to evaluate the roles of mir-451 in the sensitivity of nsclc cells to ddp. methods. quantitative rt-pcr assay was performed to detect the expression of mir-451 in 10 pairs of nsclc and noncancerous tissue samples. pcdna-gw/emgfp-mir-451 was stably transfected into nsclc cell line (a549). then,the effects of mir-451 upregulation on growth,colony formation and apoptosis of a549 cells were investigated. finally,the effects of mir-451 upregulation on in vitro and in vivo sensitivity of a549 cells of ddp were also determined. results: the level of mir-451 expression in nsclc tissues was significantly higher than that in corresponding noncancerous tissues. ectopic overexpression of mir-451 could significantly inhibit growth and induce apoptosis of a549 cells. moreover,ectopic overexpression of mir-451 could sensitize a549 cells to ddp possibly by increasing ddp-induced apoptosis which might be associated with the inactivation of akt signaling pathway. conclusions: this study demonstrated for the first time that combination of ddp application with mir-451 upregulation might be a potential strategy for the treatment of human nsclc. © 2011 hai-bo et al; licensee biomed central ltd.