Overexpressed miRNA-137 inhibits human glioma cells growth by targeting Rac1.

Previous studies have shown that miR-137 functions as a tumor suppressor in various cancers, but its role in the initiation and development of gliomas is still unknown. Currently, we found that miR-137 exhibited the most significant increase in normal brain tissues compared with glioma specimens, and the miR-137 expression was greatly decreased with the ascending of tumor pathological grades. Furthermore, overexpression of miR-137 in vitro by chemically synthesized miR-137 mimics suppressed the proliferation, inhibited cell cycle arrest in the G1/G0 phase, and induced cell apoptosis. The tumor-suppressive effects of miR-137 were indeed induced by Rac1, which was verified as a direct target of miR-137. These findings indicate that miR-137 inhibits the growth of gliomas cells by directly targeting Rac1, suggesting that miR-137 could be a new important therapeutic strategy for glioma treatment and warrants further investigation.