Title: MiR-195 suppresses the metastasis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of hepatocellular carcinoma by inhibiting YAP
Abstract: // Shuo Yu 3 , Li Jing 2 , Xiao-Ran Yin 1 , Min-Cong Wang 1 , Yi-Meng Chen 4 , Ya Guo 1 , Ke-Jun Nan 2 and Li-Li Han 1 1 Department of Oncology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province 710004, China 2 Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province 710061, China 3 Department of General Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province 710004, China 4 Department of Engineering Research Center of Bio-diagnosis and Biotherapy, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province 710004, China Correspondence to: Li-Li Han, email: [email protected] Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma; microRNA; YAP; EMT Received: June 29, 2017     Accepted: August 08, 2017     Published: September 15, 2017 ABSTRACT MiR-195, a novel cancer-related microRNA, was previously reported to play an important role in many malignancies. This study aimed to investigate the role of miR-195 mediated epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) and the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) as well as the underlying mechanisms. Our result demonstrated that miR-195 were significantly down regulated in HCC and its decreased expression is associated with poor clinical features of HCC patients. Oppositely, expression level of YAP was significantly higher in HCC tissues, and the level of YAP in metastatic tissues was significantly higher. We also found that a strong inversely association between low level expression of miR-195 and high level of YAP in HCC tissues. Notably, this study confirmed that miR-195, YAP and their combination were valuable predictors for the prognosis of HCC patients. We also explored that miR-195 inhibits HCC growth and metastatic capacity. Mechanistically, we confirm that miR-195 inhibits the migration, invasion and EMT of HCC cells by suppressing YAP. Lastly, we revealed YAP was not only the downstream of miR-195 in HCC, but also mediated the promoting effects of miR-195 on the metastasis and EMT of HCC cells. Taken together, miR-195 inhibits the metastasis and EMT in HCC by targeting YAP. MiR-195/YAP pathway may potentially act as novel biomarker and attractive therapeutic target in HCC.