miR-124a restoration inhibits glioma cell proliferation and invasion by suppressing IQGAP1 and β-catenin.

A number of microRNAs have been identified to be important regulators of tumorigenesis. Previous research has shown that miR-124 is abundantly expressed in normal brain tissue; however, only a few reports have focused on the biological impact of miR-124 on glioma cells, and the underlying mechanisms need to be elucidated. Therefore, we investigated the effect of miR-124a on glioma cell proliferation and invasion; furthermore, the underlying molecular mechanism was examined. The present study demonstrated that miR-124a expression was downregulated in human glioma tissues, and its expression level was negatively correlated with the pathological grade of the glioma. Restoration of miR-124a inhibited glioma cell proliferation and invasion in vitro. Furthermore, we found that miR-124a directly targeted and suppressed IQ motif containing GTPase activating protein 1 (IQGAP1), a well-known regulator of actin dynamics and cell motility. RNA interference assay showed that IQGAP1 knockdown led to downregulation of β-catenin and downstream cyclin D1. Taken together, our study revealed that miR-124a could inhibit glioma cell proliferation and invasion by blocking the expression of the IQGAP1 gene and downstream β-catenin and cyclin D1. This research may provide a useful molecular therapy for gliomas.