MicroRNA-10b (miR-10b) has been reported to play an important role in some types of cancer, but the effectsand possible mechanisms of action of miR-10b in the metastasis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells (NPC) havenot been explored. The aim of the present study was to investigate the function of miR-10b in nasopharyngealcarcinoma and to determine the molecular mechanisms underlying its action. The MTT assay was used toassess proliferation of CNE-2Z cells. Wound healing and transwell migration assays were applied to assesscell migration and invasion, while and expression of E-cadherin and MMP-9 were detected using Western blotanalysis. Real-time PCR was employed to detect the expression of genes related to migration and invasion andthe 2-ΔΔCt method was used to calculate the degree of expression. MTT assay showed the expression of miR-10bto have no effect on the proliferation of NPC cell lines. The wound healing assay showed that miR-10b mimicspromoted the mobility and invasion of NPC cell lines. Inhibitors of miR-10b reduced the ability of NPC cell linesto migrate and invade. In addition, the expression of genes related to migration and invasion, such as E-cadherin,vimentin, and MMP-9, were confirmed to be different in the CNE-2Z NPC cell line transfected with miR-10bmimics and with miR-10b inhibitors. In the present study, miR-10b was found to upregulate the expression ofMMP-9 and knockdown of miR-10b was found to significantly downregulate the expression of E-cadherin. Onthe whole, these results showed that miR-10b plays an important role in the invasion and metastasis of NPCcells.
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