Abstract: Objective To investigate the impact of cisplatin on microRNA-214 (miR-214) expression in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines and to elucidate the molecular mechanism of cisplatin for HCC chemotherapy. Methods Real-time PCR analysis was conducted to determine the expression levels of miR-214 in HCC tissue specimens and HCC cell lines. The IC 50 value of cisplatin was determined both in HepG2 and Hep3b cell lines. The expression of miR-214 was evaluated in HepG2 and Hep3b cells with cisplatin treatment by using real-time PCR and we also performed western blot analysis to detect the protein levels ofΒ-CATENIN in HCC cells with the same treatment as described above. A rescue assay was conducted by using cisplatin treatment in combination with miR-214 inhibitor (Anti-214) to further investigate the correlation among cisplatin, miR-214, and cell growth. Results miR-214 expression depicted a significant downregulation in HCC tissues and cell lines (P<0.01). Cisplatin treatment led to an augment of miR-214 expression in HepG2 and Hep3b cells (P<0.01) and resulted in a decrease ofΒ-CATENIN protein levels, which was verified as a direct target of miR-214 in HCC cells (P<0.05). Conclusion Cisplatin represents its suppressive effect on HCC growth at least partly via miR-214-mediatedΒ-CATENIN axis.

Key words: miR-214, HCC, chemotherapy