MicroRNA-375 is downregulated in gastric carcinomas and regulates cell survival by targeting PDK1 and 14-3-3zeta.

We investigated expression profiles of microRNA (miRNA) in gastric carcinomas by use of a miRNA microarray platform covering a total of 470 human miRNAs. We identified 39 differentially expressed miRNAs in gastric carcinoma, of which six were significantly downregulated and the other 33 were upregulated. We found that miRNA-375 (miR-375) was the most downregulated and that its ectopic expression in gastric carcinoma cells markedly reduced cell viability via the caspase-mediated apoptosis pathway. Interestingly, we found that expression of miR-375 inhibited expression of PDK1, which is a direct target of miR-375, followed by suppression of Akt phosphorylation. Further analysis by gene expression microarray revealed that 14-3-3zeta, a potent antiapoptotic gene, was significantly downregulated at both the mRNA and protein levels in cells transfected with miR-375. The activity of a luciferase reporter containing the miR-375 binding sequence at the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of 14-3-3zeta mRNA was repressed by the ectopic expression of miR-375, suggesting that miR-375 targets the 3' UTR of 14-3-3zeta. In addition, knockdown of either PDK1 or 14-3-3zeta in gastric carcinoma cells induced caspase activation, which was also observed in miR-375-transfected cells, suggesting that miR-375 may exert its proapoptotic function, at least in part, through the downregulation of PDK1 and 14-3-3zeta. Taken together, we propose that miR-375 is a candidate tumor suppressor miRNA in gastric carcinoma.