Researchers Discover MicroRNA-212 against Chemotherapy Drug in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Lung cancer, of which non-small cell lung cancer is in the majority, is the most predominant malignant cancer. It is the leading cause of tumor-related death, worldwide. Now, researchers from Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) reveal the resistant role of microRNA-212 against chemotherapy drug, Cisplatin, in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC).

Acetylcholinesterase as the component of the cholinergic system is considered to participate in many non-classical processes, such as development, inflammation and apoptosis, in addition to hydrolysis of acetylcholine. Previous studies suggested that there are various potential roles of acetylcholinesterase in different tumor types. However, the specific function and regulation mechanisms were unclear.

Dr. LU Lu under the supervision of Prof. ZHANG Xuejun from State Key Laboratory of Cell Biology, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, CAS, found the pre-apoptotic role of miR-212 in response to chemotherapy drug in NSCLC. They found that acetylcholinesterase expression level was modified in NSCLC and was able to affect the tumor formation in vivo. Further data indicated that miR-212 was able to directly modify expression level of acetylcholinesterase in vitro and was negative-related with it in vivo in NSCLC.

Nevertheless, the solo down-regulation of acetylcholinesterase by miR-212 did not trigger significant phenotype in NSCLC cells. While, endogenous miR-212 decreased with increasing acetylcholinesterase as cisplatin-induced apoptosis. Increased miR-212 expression was able to protect the NSCLC cells from cispltin-induced apoptosis. Further rescue experiments suggested miR-212 indeed functioned via inhibiting acetylcholinesterase expression. The findings offer us a new insight to the role of acetylcholinesterase in NSCLC. It suggests a new opportunity for the treatment regime of NSCLC in future.

The study entitled “Synaptic acetylcholinesterase targeted by microRNA-212 functions as a tumor suppressor in non-small cell lung cancer” was published online in The International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology on Aug 22^nd, 2013. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.