miR-217 inhibits the migration and invasion of HeLa cells through modulating MAPK1.

MicroRNA (miR)‑217 serves a pivotal role in the progression of colorectal cancer, renal cell carcinoma and glioma, however, the role of miR‑217 in cervical cancer (CC) remains unclear. In the present study, the mechanism of miR‑217 in cervical cancer was explored. The mRNA expression of miR‑217 and mitogen‑activated protein kinase 1 (MAPK1) were assessed using reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis. Cell Counting‑Kit 8, wound‑healing and Transwell assays were performed to detect cell viability, migration and invasion, respectively. Apoptosis and cell cycle were determined by flow cytometry. TargetScan 7.2 and dual‑luciferase reporter assays were respectively used to determine miR‑217 target genes and their binding capacities. The protein expression levels of MAPK1, phosphorylated (p)‑extracellular signal‑regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2)/ERK1/2, Bcl‑2, Bax and cleaved caspase‑3 were quantified by western blotting. It was found that miR‑217 was downregulated in patients with CC and in CC cells. The viability, migration and invasion of cells were suppressed by a miR‑217 mimic. It was also found that apoptosis was increased and cell cycle was inhibited by the miR‑217mimic, which was supported by changes in Bcl‑2, Bax and cleaved caspase‑3. MAPK1 was upregulated in patients with CC and was a target gene of miR‑217. MAPK1 reversed the inhibition of miR‑217 on cell viability, migration, invasion and apoptosis. The protein levels of MAPK1 and p‑ERK1/2, which were higher in the mimic MAPK1 group than those in the control or mimic groups, were ameliorated by PD98059. The results of the present study demonstrated that miR‑217 had an anti‑CC effect and may be effectively used in the treatment of CC.

Introduction

Cervical cancer (CC), which is a common gynecologic malignancy, has the third highest incidence among female malignant tumors worldwide (1). The incidence of CC in China is the highest among female malignant tumors (2). Radical surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy are main treatment methods for CC, however, the adverse reactions caused by treatment seriously affect the quality of life of patients. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the mechanism of CC at the molecular level and to identify effective gene targets for the clinical treatment of CC.

Micro(mi)RNAs are a group of small, conserved, non-coding RNAs that can be sequence-specifically bound to 3'untranslated regions (UTRs) on homologous mRNA targets (3). In recent years, studies have found that miRNAs can regulate the development of tumors and biological behaviors, such as chemotherapeutic sensitivity, by regulating oncogenes/tumor suppressor genes (4,5). miR-217, which is located on chromosome 2P16.1, is an miRNA that inhibits cell proliferation and serves a key regulatory role in the growth and development of various cells. It has been shown that miR-217 is closely related to tumor cell proliferation and migration (6,7). In human pancreatic ductal gland tumors, miR-217 suppresses cell proliferation by targeting target genes, including Tpd52l2, Kras and E2F3 (8-10). miR-217 also targets dickkopf-1 to regulate the WNT signaling pathway and therefore affects the properties of stem cell in hepatocellular carcinoma (11). However, the effect of miR-217 in CC remains to be fully elucidated.

It has been demonstrated that the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway serves a pivotal biological role in the progression of CC (12-14). MAPKs, which are a series of intracellular serine/threonine protein kinases, are highly conserved in evolution. MAPK1, also known as extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)2, is located in the cytoplasm prior to activation and, once activated into the nucleus, it can be activated or be expressed at a high level in tissues in several types of tumor, including CC, lung cancer, breast cancer and liver cancer, by activating target genes (15-18). Therefore, the expression of MAPK1 is closely associated with tumors. The ERK1/2 pathway is a pivotal signal transduction pathway in the MAPK family and is closely correlated with the progression of tumorigenesis (19,20).

In the present study, the clinical significance of the expression levels of miR-217 in CC and the regulatory mechanism underlying the effect of miR-217 in the progression of CC were investigated. The study aimed to provide an effective strategy for treating patients with CC.

Materials and methods

Human-derived CC samples

A total of 60 human-derived CC specimens and non-cancerous tissues were sampled between 2015 and 2017 at The Second Affiliated Hospital of Shaanxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Shaanxi, China). Of the patients involved, 33 were male and 27 were female, aged between 42 and 63 years of age. The experiments were approved by the Ethics Committee of The Second Affiliated Hospital of Shaanxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. All tissues were collected prior to the initiation of radiotherapy or chemotherapy and were frozen immediately and stored at -80°C until required. Cytological and/or pathological evidence of a CC diagnosis were available from each subject. Patients provided written informed consent.

Cell line culture

The Ect1/E6E7 human normal cervical cell line, CC cell lines of human origin (HeLa, SiHa, Caski, Me180, Ms751 and C33a) and 293T cells were procured from the American Type Culture Collection (Rockville, MD, USA). The cells were grown in RPMI 1640 medium or Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM, GE Healthcare Life Sciences, Logan, UT, USA) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS; Invitrogen, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Waltham, MA, USA), 100 U/ml penicillin and 100 μg/ml streptomycin in a humidified chamber with 5% CO2 at 37°C.

miRNA and reagents

The miR-217-mimic, miR-217-negative control (NC) and MAPK1 expression vector were purchased from GenePharma (Shanghai, China). Lipofectamine® 3000 transfection reagent (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.) was used to transfect the cells with the aforementioned miRNAs according to the manufacturer's protocol, with a transfection incubation time of 6 h. PD98059 was obtained from Tocris Bioscience (Ellisville, MO, USA; CAS no. 167869-21-8, HPLC ≥98%).

Cell viability assay

A Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay (Beyotime Institute of Biotechnology, Beijing, China) was performed to assess cell viability according to the manufacturer's protocol. Briefly, the transfected and untransfected cells were transferred to 96-well plates (3,000 cells/well). Following incubation for 2 h in 10 μl CCK-8 at 37°C, the absorbance in every well was read at 450 nm using a microplate reader (Tecan Infinite M200 Microplate Reader; LabX, Tecan Group, Ltd., Männedorf, Switzerland).

Bioinformatics prediction

The potential target genes of miR-217 were predicted using TargetScan 7.2 online software (www.targetscan.org) according to the manufacturer's instructions. 'miR-217' was inserted and 'human' was selected. The putative target genes of miR-217 were scanned.

Dual-luciferase reporter assay

Wild-type MAPK1 (MAPK1-WT) and mutated MAPK1 (MAPK1-MUT) were cloned into pMIR-REPORT luciferase vectors (Ambion; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.). 293T cells (5×105 cells/well) were seeded into 6-well plates and then transfected with both vectors using Lipofectamine 3000® (Invitrogen; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.) for 24 h, according to the manufacturer's manual. The Dual-Luciferase-Reporter 1000 Assay system (Promega Corporation, Madison, WI, USA) was used to assess luciferase activity. Renilla activity was used for normalization.

RNA extraction and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) analysis

The total RNA was extracted using TRIzol (Invitrogen; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.) according to the manufacturer's protocol. The concentration and purity of RNA were determined using the NanoDrop2000 spectrophotometer (NanoDrop Technologies; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.). The total RNA (1 μg) was reverse transcribed using a reverse transcription cDNA kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.) and TaqMan™ MicroRNA Reverse Transcription kit (Applied Biosystems, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.) for the synthesis of cDNA (42°C for 60 min, 70°C for 5 min, preserved at 4°C). SYBR-Green PCR Master mix (Roche Diagnostics, Basel, Switzerland) and the TaqMan miRNA PCR kit (Applied Biosystems, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.) were used to perform qPCR assays for MAPK1 and miRNA-217 using the Opticon RT-PCR detection system (ABI 7500, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.), The PCR cycle was set as follows: Pretreatment at 95°C for 10 min, followed by 40 cycles at 94°C for 15 sec, 60°C for 1 min, 60°C for 1 min and preserved at 4°C. The comparative quantification cycle (2−ΔΔCq) method (21) was used to analyze the expression of mRNA. The expression of GAPDH was used for normalization. The sequences of the primers used were as follows: MAPK1, forward 5′-GTCGCCATCAAGAAAATCAGC-3′, and reverse 5′-GGAAGGTTTGAGGTCACGGT-3′; GAPDH, forward 5′-AGAAGGCTGGGGCTCATTTG-3′, and reverse 5'-AGGGGCCATCCACAG TCTTC-3′; miR-217, forward 5′-TACTCAACTCACTACTGCATCAGG A-3′, and reverse 5′-TATGGTTGTTCTGCTCTCTGTGTC-3′; and U6, forward 5′-CTCGCTTCGGCAGCACA-3′, and reverse 5′-TGGTGTCGTGGAGTCG-3′.

Western blot analysis

Total proteins were collected using RIPA (Cell Signaling Technology, Inc., Danvers, MA, USA). A BCA Protein Assay kit (Pierce; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.) was used to measure the concentrations of proteins and adjusted to a concentration of 6 μg/μl using 1X loading and DEPC water. The samples (5 μl) were separated on 10% SDS-PAGE gels and then transferred onto a polyvinylidene fluoride membrane (EMD Millipore, Billerica, MA, USA). Following blocking in 5% non-fat milk in PBST [0.1% Tween-20 in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS)] for 1 h, the membrane was probed with the primary antibody overnight at 4°C and washed three times in PBST. The membrane was then incubated with secondary antibody (horseradish peroxidase-conjugated goat anti-mouse/rabbit IgG, 1:2,000; cat. no. sc-516102/sc-2357; Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc. Dallas, TX, USA) at room temperature for 2 h. The membrane was then washed with PBST three times. A developer (EZ-ECL kit; Biological Industries) was used for development, and the gray values of the strips were analyzed and counted using ImageJ software (version 5.0; Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Hercules, CA, USA). The antibodies used were as follows: Anti-GAPDH (mouse; 1:1,000; cat. no. LS-B1625; LifeSpan BioSciences, Inc.), anti-Bax (rabbit; 1:1,000; cat. no. ab32503; Abcam), anti-Bcl-2 (rabbit; 1:1,000; cat. no. ab32124; Abcam), anti-cleaved caspase-3 (rabbit; 1:1,000; cat. no. #9661; Cell Signaling Technology, Inc.), anti-p-ERK1/2 (rabbit; 1:1,000; cat. no. #4370; Cell Signaling Technology, Inc.), anti-ERK1/2 (mouse; 1:1,000; cat. no. #4696; Cell Signaling Technology, Inc.) and anti-MAPK1 (rabbit; 1:1,000; cat. no. #9108; Cell Signaling Technology, Inc.).

Analysis of apoptosis

Flow cytometry was used for the analysis of apoptosis. The HeLa cells were transfected with an expression vector or mimics and incubated for 24 h. The supernatant was collected in a 15-ml centrifuge tube, and the culture flask was gently washed once by adding 2 ml PBS. Trypsin (1 ml) without ehylenediaminetetraacetic acid was used to digest the cells by shaking gently, and the pancreatic enzyme was aspirated when the wall was wet. The mixture was stood at room temperature for 1 min, and DMEM (Corning Incorporated) containing 10% FBS was added to terminate digestion. The cells were centrifuged at 1,000 × g for 3 min at 4°C, and the supernatant was removed. The cells were then washed twice with pre-cooled PBS and resuspended in 1X Annexin V binding buffer. According to the Annexin-V-FITC cell apoptosis detection kit (cat. no. K201-100, BioVision, Inc., Milpitas, CA, USA), at room temperature, the cells were collected and stained with Annexin V-FITC and propidium iodide (PI) for 15 min and counted by flow cytometry (version 10.0, FlowJo, FACS Calibur™, BD Biosciences, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA). The flow cytometry scatter diagrams showed that living cells shown in the lower left quadrant are mechanically damaged and necrotic cells in the left upper quadrant are necrotic, whereas advanced apoptotic cells are shown in the upper right quadrant and early apoptotic cells are shown in the lower right quadrant.

Flow cytometric cell cycle analysis

Cell cycle analysis was performed by flow cytometry. To be more specific, 5×105 cells with 70% cold ethanol were cultured -20°C overnight. The following day, the fixed cells were centrifuged at 1,200 × g for 1 min at 4°C, and washed twice with PBS. The cells were treated with 200 μl RNase A (1 mg/ml) for 10 min at 37°C in suspension, following which 300 μl PI (100 μl/ml, BioVision, Inc.) was added to stain the DNA in cells in the dark. Following incubation at room temperature for 20 min, the cellular DNA content of the cells was analyzed in a FACScan flow cytometer (BD Biosciences) using ModFit LT software V2.0 (BD Biosciences).

Wound-healing assay

Following transfection of the HeLa cells for 24 h, a gap was created using a 200-μl sterile tip across the middle of the well. The cells were washed twice with DMEM for smoothing the edges of the scratch and floating cells were removed. Following incubation in an incubator (37°C, 5% CO2) for 0 and 24 h, the migration of the cells was observed under a light microscope (Keyence Corporation, Osaka, Japan), the distance of cell migration was visualized and images were captured using Image-Pro Plus Analysis software 6.0 (Media Cybernetics, Inc., Rockville, MD, USA).

Transwell assay

An 8-μm Transwell chamber (cat. no. 3413, Corning Incorporated,) was placed on a 24-well plate with a layer of Matrigel (50 μl; BD Biosciences) coated on the Transwell chamber. The HeLa cells were cultured in serum-free medium for 12 h to eliminate the effects of the serum and then resuspended in DMEM containing bovine serum albumin (BSA; Sigma-Aldrich; Merck KGaA) with free FBS. The suspended cells (100 μl) were added to the Transwell chamber, and 400 μl of DMEM containing 20% FBS was added to the basolateral chamber. The cells were cultured for 24 h at 37°C in an incubator with 5% CO2. The Transwell chamber was then removed, the culture solution in the Transwell was discarded and washed twice with calcium-free PBS, and the chamber was fixed in methanol solution for 30 min and stained with 0.1% crystal violet for 20 min at room temperature. Subsequently, the chamber was washed with PBS and the upper chamber liquid was aspirated. The unmigrated cells in the upper layer were gently wiped off using a cotton swab. The microporous membrane was carefully removed using a small pair of tweezers, dried with the bottom side facing upwards and then transferred onto a glass slide and sealed using a neutral gum. Images were observed and collected using an inverted optical microscope (Keyence Corporation).

Statistical analysis

All experimental data are presented as the mean ± SEM. P<0.05 was considered to indicate a statistically significant difference. Statistical significance was determined by one-way analysis of variance between groups, followed by a Bonferroni test. All statistical analyses were performed using GraphPad Prism 6 (GraphPad Software, Inc.).

Results

miR-217 is downregulated in tissues and cells and MAPK1 is expressed in tissues

The mRNA levels of miR-217 in cancer tissues from patients with CC, CC cell lines and controls were measured, and the mRNA levels of MAPK1 were determined in CC tissues. The results showed that the mRNA level of miR-217 was decreased (Fig. 1A) whereas that of MAPK1 (Fig. 1B) was increased in the cancer tissue group, compared with levels in the normal group. It was also found that there was a negative correlation between the levels of miR-217 and MAPK1 (Fig. 1C). It was also found that the expression of miR-217 was lower in the CC cell lines than that in the control cells (Fig. 1D). The expression of miR-217 exhibited a greater degree of reduction in the HeLa cells, thus, the HeLa cells were used in later experiments.

Figure 1

Expression of miR-217 is negatively correlated with the level of MAPK1. (A) RT-qPCR analysis was used to detect the level of miR-217 in cancer tissues. (B) Expression levels of MAPK1 were determined by RT-qPCR analysis in cancer tissues. (C) A negative correlation was found between miR-217 and MAPK1 levels. (D) RT-qPCR analysis was used to detect the level of miR-217 in cancer cell lines. P<0.0001 vs. normal; **P<0.01 vs. Ect1/E6E7. miR, microRNA; MAPK1, mitogen-activated protein kinase 1; RT-qPCR, reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction.

Viability, invasion and migration of cells are inhibited by miR-217 mimic transfection

To further investigate the role of miR-217 in CC, the miR-217 mimic was transfected into HeLa cells. As shown in Fig. 2A, the cells were successfully transfected with the miR-217 mimic. It was found that the miR-217 mimic suppressed cell viability (Fig. 2B), migration (Fig. 2C) and invasion (Fig. 2D), compared with levels in the blank and mimic control groups, respectively.

Figure 2

miR-217 mimic suppresses cell viability, invasion and migration. (A) Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis was used to assess the transfection efficiency of the miR-217 mimic. (B) Viability of cells was detected using Cell Counting Kit-8. (C) Migration ability was determined using wound-healing assays (magnification, ×200). (D) A Transwell assay was used to examine invasion ability (magnification, ×200). **P<0.01 vs. Blank; ^^P<0.01 vs. mimic control. miR, microRNA.

miR-217 mimic induces apoptosis and inhibits the cell cycle

The results revealed that apoptosis (Fig. 3A) was induced and cell cycle (Fig. 3B) was suppressed by the miR-217 mimic, compared with observations in the blank and mimic control groups, respectively. The protein level of anti-apoptotic Blc-2 was lower, whereas the expression levels of pro-apoptotic proteins (Bax and cleaved caspase-3) were higher in the miR-217 mimic group compared with those in the blank and mimic control groups (Fig. 3C and D).

Figure 3

miR-217 mimic induces apoptosis and inhibits cell cycle. Flow cytometry was used to examine (A) cell apoptosis and (B) cell cycle. (C) Protein levels of Bcl-2, Bax and cleaved caspaed-3 were detected by western blotting. (D) Relative levels of proteins were determined. GAPDH was used for normalization. **P<0.01 vs. Blank; ^^P<0.01 vs. mimic control. miR, microRNA; PI, propidium iodide.

MAPK1 is the target gene of miR-217

To determine the binding capacity of miR-217 to MAPK1, the TargetScan 7.2 website was used and MAPK1 was identified as a potential target of miR-217 (Fig. 4A). The dual-luciferase reporter gene assay data demonstrated that the luciferase activity was lower in the MAPK1-WT mimic group than that in the MAPK1-WT blank group (Fig. 4B), with no significant changes shown in the MAPK1-MUT group.

Figure 4

MAPK1 was the target gene of miR-217. (A) TargetScan 7.2 predicted that MAPK1 was a possible target gene for miR-217. (B) MAPK1 and miR-217 binding ability was analyzed using a dual-luciferase reporter gene. **P<0.01 vs. Blank. miR, microRNA; MAPK1, mitogen-activated protein kinase 1; 3'UTR, 3'untranslated region; WT, wild-type; MUT, mutated.

Inhibitory effects of miR-217 mimic on cells are reversed by MAPK1

The role of MAPK1 in CC was investigated in vitro. It was found that MAPK1 was successfully transfected into cells through observation at the protein level (Fig. 5A and B). The mRNA expression of MAPK1 was enhanced and confirmed by RT-qPCR analysis (Fig. 5C). The miR-217 mimic was found to inhibit cell viability (Fig. 5D), migration (Fig. 5E) and invasion (Fig. 5F), which were reversed by MAPK1. The miR-217 mimic-induced cell apoptosis was ameliorated by MAPK1 (Fig. 5G). The protein level of p-ERK1/2 was lower in the mimic group than that in the blank group, which was also reversed by MAPK1 (Fig. 5H and I).

Figure 5

Inhibitory effects of microRNA-217 mimic on cells are reversed by MAPK1. (A) Western blotting was used to detect the transfection efficiency of MAPK1. (B) Percentage of MAPK1 was analyzed. (C) Transfection efficiency of MAPK1 was confirmed by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis. (D) Viability of cells was assessed using Cell Counting Kit-8. (E) A wound-healing assay was used to identify cell migration (magnification, ×200). (F) Invasion was observed using a Transwell assay (magnification, ×200). (G) Apoptosis was determined by flow cytometry. (H) Protein expression of p-ERK1/2 was analyzed by western blotting. (I) Relative expression of MAPK1. **P<0.01 vs. Blank; ##P<0.01 vs. mimic + NC. MAPK1, mitogen-activated protein kinase 1; NC, negative control. ERK, extracellular signal-regulated kinase; p-ERK, phosphorylated ERK; PI, propidium iodide.

Protein levels of MAPK1 and p-ERK1/2 are induced by MAPK1, which are reduced by PD98059

p-ERK1/2 is an important component of the MAPK signaling pathway. In the present study, western blotting was performed to detect the levels of p-ERK1/2 and MAPK1, and it was found that the levels of MAPK1 and p-ERK1/2 were higher in the mimic MAPK1 group compared with those in the Blank group. However, PD98059 reversed the effects of MAPK1 on the levels of MAPK1 and p-ERK1/2 (Fig. 6A and B).

Figure 6

Protein levels of MAPK1 and p-ERK1/2 are induced by MAPK1, which are decreased by PD98059. (A) Protein levels of MAPK1 and p-ERK1/2 were detected by western blotting. The relative levels of proteins described in (B) were counted with GAPDH used for normalization. **P<0.01 vs. Blank; &&P<0.01 vs. mimic MAPK1. MAPK1, mitogen-activated protein kinase 1; ERK, extracellular signal-regulated kinase; p-ERK, phosphorylated ERK.

Discussion

CC is one of the most important malignant tumors in women worldwide and a major cause of cancer-related mortality. Currently, the majority of patients with CC have no obvious symptoms at an early stage, therefore, metastasis is often present in patients with CC when they are diagnosed with the disease. In the last few decades, progress has been made in the treatment of CC (22,23). However, increasing the survival rates of patients with CC remains a challenge.

miRNAs can act as tumor suppressors or promoters in different types of cancer, as they target a variety of target genes (24). According to reports, miRNAs serve a pivotal role in the progression and metastasis of CC by regulating cancer cell proliferation, apoptosis and cell cycle (25). As an miRNA, miR-217 is closely linked to tumor progression and poor prognosis (26-28). Previous studies have reported that miR-217 bound to its target mRNA to inhibit the formation and progression of tumors, including gastric cancer (29) and liver cancer (30). However, the role of miR-217 in CC remains poorly understood.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the role of mir-217 in the development of CC. The expression of miR-217 in CC tissues and cells was detected and confirmed to be significantly reduced in CC tissues compared with that in normal adjacent tissues, and similar results were observed in CC cell lines. These data suggested that miR-217 may act as a tumor suppressor gene in CC.

The biological functions of normal cells experience major changes during carcinogenesis to promote the progression of cancer, including invasion and metastasis (31,32). Various tissue cells in an organism maintain a quantitative balance through proliferation and apoptosis, however, disturbing this balance leads to diseases such as cancer (33,34). Apoptosis is the main mechanism of cell death induced by various anticancer drugs, thus, the role of apoptosis in cancer therapy has become a focus in antitumor research (35,36). miR-217 has previously been found to be expressed at low levels in CC tissues and cells. The present study aimed to determine the effect of a high expression of miR-217 on CC cells, therefore, an miR-217 mimic and a mimic control were transfected into HeLa cells. It was found that cell viability, metastasis, invasion and cell cycle were inhibited and apoptosis was increased by the miR-217 mimic. In addition, the expression of pro-apoptotic proteins was increased but that of anti-apoptotic proteins was decreased in the miR-217 mimic group. These data indicated that miR-217 may be a tumor suppressor gene in the progression of CC.

To investigate the molecular mechanism underlying the tumor suppressor effects of miR-217 on CC, bioinformatics software (TargetScan 7.2) was used to identify the target of miR-217 in CC cells. MAPK1 3'UTRs were found to have two binding sequences for miR-217 at the positions 305-311 and 778-784. The luciferase activity assay further confirmed that MAPK1 was a target gene of miR-217.

The MAPK pathway, which is considered to be an important protein cascade in cells, transfers signals from receptors on the cell surface to the nucleus (37). The important signaling molecules in this pathway are ERK and its upstream kinase (MEK) (20,38). The MAPK pathway is considered as a potential target for cancer therapeutic intervention, as it is effective in the regulation of cancer cell proliferation, invasion and survival. Zhang et al (39) demonstrated that the inhibition of MAPK1 inhibited tumorigenicity and metastasis in prostate cancer. Zhang et al (40) found that miR-217 suppressed tumor growth and apoptosis by targeting MAPK1 in colorectal cancer. Hu et al (41) also showed that miR-585 directly targeted MAPK1 to inhibit gastric cancer proliferation. These data demonstrate that MAPK1 is involved in the development of cancer. In the present study, it was found that the co-transfection of MAPK1 and the miR-217 mimic in CC cells restored the effects of the miR-217 mimic in CC cells. The level of p-ERK1/2 was inhibited by miR-217 mimic, which was reversed by MAPK1. To validate the role of the MAPK signaling pathway in CC, PD98095, which is a potent inhibitor of MEK, and MAPK1 (miR-217 mimic) were used to co-treat the cells, and it was found that PD98095 increased the expression levels of p-ERK1/2 and MAPK1. The above experimental data indicated that miR-217 inhibited the occurrence and development of CC and such a function may be correlated with the MAPK signaling pathway.

Although the present study found that MAPK1 is a target of miR-217 regulation in CC and effectively inhibited the deterioration of CC, there are limitations in the study. First, the function of miR-217 in protecting CC by modulating MAPK1 was only supported by in vitro experiments. Additionally, the observed significant regulation by miR-217 regulating MAPK1 in CC is unclear and requires further investigation.

In conclusion, the findings of the present study contribute to our understanding of the role of dysregulated miR-217 in the progression of CC by targeting MAPK1. The results provide an effective therapeutic target to improve the survival rates of patients with CC.