Abstract
Puerarin has recently been demonstrated to play anti-cancer roles in a series of human cancers, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), possibly through regulation of cancer-related microRNAs (miRNAs). The purpose of the present study was to further investigate the detailed role and underlying mechanism of puerarin on NSCLC progression. Cell viability and apoptosis were assessed using the Cell Counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and flow cytometry, respectively. Transwell assays were performed to determine cell migration and invasion abilities. The qRT-PCR assay was employed to detect the expression of miR-342 and cyclin D1 (CCND1) mRNA, and CCND1 protein expression was evaluated by western blotting. The targeted interaction between miR-342 and CCND1 was verified by dual-luciferase reporter assay and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay. We found that our data demonstrated that puerarin repressed cell viability, migration, invasion, and cell cycle progression, and enhanced the apoptosis of NSCLC cells. miR-342 overexpression hindered the migration, invasion and cell cycle progression, and accelerated the apoptosis of NSCLC cells. miR-342 inhibited CCND1 expression by directly binding to the 3'-UTR of CCND1. Moreover, miR-342 overexpression-mediated anti-migration, anti-invasion, anti-cell cycle progression, and pro-apoptotic effects were abated by co-transfection of pcDNA-CCND1. More importantly, puerarin inhibited CCND1 expression by upregulating miR-342. Additionally, puerarin hampered NSCLC cell progression in vitro and tumor growth in vivo by upregulating miR-342. In conclusion, our study suggested that puerarin hampered NSCLC progression in vitro and in vivo at least partly through regulating miR-342/CCND1 axis, highlighting a novel mechanism of puerarin exerting anti-cancer property in NSCLC.