MiR-26a inhibits prostate cancer progression by repression of Wnt5a.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that are involved in different biological processes by suppressing target gene expression. miRNA microarray analysis revealed a significant decrease of miR-26a in prostate cancer tissues versus their normal counterparts, but the role of miR-26a is needed to investigate. In the present study, we found that miR-26a expression was lower in prostate cancer tissues compared with their normal controls, so did the prostate cancer cells. Next, by lentivirus-mediated gain-of-function studies, it was showed that stable miR-26a inhibited cell proliferation, metastasis, and epithelial mesenchymal transition and induced G1 phase arrest in prostate cancer. It was predicted that Wnt5a was a potential target gene of miR-26a by bioinformatics analysis. Then, luciferase assay and Western blot analysis identified that Wnt5a was a new direct target gene of miR-26a and miR-26a inhibited prostate cancer progression via Wnt5a. Altogether, the findings suggested that miR-26a may function as a tumor suppressor in prostate cancer by targeting Wnt5a.