MiR-199a/b-3p suppresses migration and invasion of breast cancer cells by downregulating PAK4/MEK/ERK signaling pathway.

MicroRNA-199a/b-3p is downregulated in several types of aggressive cancer, and its decrement significantly correlates with poor survival. Here, we aim to investigate the biological function of miR-199a/b-3p and its regulation of target genes in breast cancer cells with highly metastatic potential. In addition, we found that miR-199a/b-3p expression was much lower in MDA-MB-231, CAL120, and HCC1395 breast cancer cells with highly metastatic potential. Functional assays showed that restored miR-199a/b-3p expression inhibited MDA-MB-231 cell growth, cell-cycle progression, migration, and invasion. In addition, we experimentally demonstrated that PAK4 was the direct target of miR-199a/b-3p, hypo-expression of PAK4 suppressed proliferation, migration and invasion of MDA-MB-231 cells, and overexpression of PAK4 significantly rescued the inhibitory effect of miR-199a/b-3p on MDA-MB-231 cell growth, migration, and invasion. Further, we also observed that miR-199a/b-3p could inactivate the PAK4/MEK/ERK signaling pathway. Thus, miR-199a/b-3p functions as a tumor suppressor and has an important role in breast cancer metastasis through PAK4/MEK/ERK signaling pathway.