MiR-22-silenced cyclin A expression in colon and liver cancer cells is regulated by bile acid receptor.

Because of the significant tumor-suppressive role of microRNA-22 (miR-22), the current study was designed to understand the regulation of miR-22 and to identify additional downstream miR-22 targets in liver and colon cells. The data showed that miR-22 was transcriptionally regulated by bile acid receptor farnesoid X receptor (FXR) through direct binding to an invert repeat 1 motif located at -1012 to -1025 bp upstream from miR-22. Among the studied primary and secondary bile acids, chenodeoxycholic acid, which has the highest binding affinity to FXR, induced miR-22 level in both Huh7 liver and HCT116 colon cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. In addition, cyclin A2 (CCNA2) was identified as a miR-22 novel target in liver and colon cancer cells. The sequence of miR-22, which is conserved in mice, rats, humans, and other mammalians, aligns with the sequence of 3'-UTR of CCNA2. Chenodeoxycholic acid treatment and miR-22 mimics reduced CCNA2 protein and increased the number of G0/G1 Huh7 and HCT116 cells. In FXR KO mice, reduction of miR-22 was accompanied by elevated hepatic and ileal CCNA2 protein, as well as an increased number of hepatic and colonic Ki-67-positive cells. In humans, the expression levels of miR-22 and CCNA2 are inversely correlated in liver and colon cancers. Taken together, our data showed that bile acid-activated FXR stimulates miR-22-silenced CCNA2, a novel pathway for FXR to exert its protective effect in the gastrointestinal tract.