MicroRNA-485-5p attenuates cell proliferation in glioma by directly targeting paired box 3.

MicroRNA-485-5p (miR-485-5p) has been reported to be involved in the development and progression of human cancers; however, its role in glioma remains unclear. In the present study, we found that miR-485-5p was significantly down-regulated in both glioma tissues and cell lines. Functional experiments indicated that enhanced expression of miR-485-5p attenuated glioma cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo, and induced glioma cells cycle arrest in G1. MiR-485-5p was found to directly bind to the 3'-UTR of paired box 3 (PAX3) and decrease its expression of protein level, which further inhibits the proliferation of glioma. The decreasing of PAX3 was found to lead to the accumulation of p-JNK. Mechanistic studies revealed that restoring the expression of PAX3 alleviated miR-485-5p-induced inhibition of proliferation of glioma cells. Taken together, these findings suggest that PAX3 modulation by miR-485-5p has an important role in regulating glioma proliferation, and miR-485-5p might be a novel therapeutic target for glioma.