Higher expression of miR-150-5p promotes tumorigenesis by suppressing LKB1 in non-small cell lung cancer.

Lung cancer is one of the most malignant tumors that can form in the human. MicroRNAs (MiRNAs) play significant role in tumor progression. Human lung cancer tissues and cell lines were used to determine miR-150-5p respectively, and Liver Kinase B1 (LKB1) expression using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). The data analysis website Kaplan-Meier Plotter (database obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas) was used to perform a survival analysis with LKB1 levels. Using the appropriate assays, the function of miR-150-5p was also detected in cellular proliferation, migration and cell apoptosis as well as cell cycle. Results revealed that miR-150-5p was upregulated in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tissue and cell lines. In NSCLC, miR-150-5p promoted cellular proliferation and migration, but decreased cellular apoptosis. Conversely, miR-150-5p inhibition suppressed cellular growth. These results further revealed a network of cellular signaling for miR-150-5p to target LKB1. Ectopic expression of LKB1 can mitigate the tumor-promoting function of miR-150-5p. Collectively, these results indicated that miR-150-5p may promote lung cancer by inhibiting the suppressor gene LKB1 in NSCLC.