Alpinumisoflavone induces apoptosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma by modulating miR-370/PIM1 signaling.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is the most prevalent type of esophageal cancer and accumulating evidence has confirmed the role of miRNAs in ESCC. One such miRNA, miR-370, was found to be aberrantly downregulated in various human malignancies. This study showed that the expression of miR-370 was significantly lower in ESCC tissues and cell lines, and miR-370 functioned as a tumor suppressor in ESCC. Moreover, this is the first report that showed miR-370 suppresses cell proliferation and tumor growth by directly targeting Pim family kinases 1 (PIM1). Furthermore, alpinumisoflavone, a naturally occurring flavonoid, could inhibit tumor growth of ESCC by targeting miR-370/PIM1 signaling.