MicroRNA-105 targets SOX9 and inhibits human glioma cell progression.

Growing evidence indicates that microRNA (miRNA) play vital roles in glioma progression by directly regulating multiple targets. Here, we found that miR-105 expression was significantly decreased and inversely correlated with SOX9 mRNA expression in glioma tissues. SOX9 was identified as a direct target of miR-105. miR-105 up-regulation repressed the expression of SOX9, TCF4, c-MYC, cyclin D1, and AXIN2 and suppressed glioma cell progression. Restoration of SOX9 or TCF4 abolished the effect of miR-105 on glioma cell progression. SOX9 down-regulation had similar effects as miR-105 up-regulation on glioma progression. Moreover, TCF4 restoration rescued the effect of SOX9 down-regulation on glioma progression. Altogether, these findings suggested that miR-105 functions as a potential tumor suppressor by regulating the SOX9/TCF4 axis in glioma.