miR-129-1-3p inhibits cell migration by targeting BDKRB2 in gastric cancer

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small noncoding RNAs, which regulate gene expression in the posttranscriptional level. They are involved in cancer occurrence and development. Different members of the same miRNA family may have different roles. Since the fact that metastasis is the main cause of cancer-related death and miR-129 has three members, in this study, we focused on the migration inhibitory role of miR-129-1-3p in gastric cancer and explored the possible mechanisms. We first compared the expression of three miR-129 family members, miR-129-5p, miR-129-1-3p, and miR-129-2-3p, between gastric carcinoma tissues and surgical margin non-cancer samples by quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (QRT-PCR). Then, we selected miR-129-1-3p for further analysis and transfected its mimic and inhibitor into gastric cancer BGC-823 cells, respectively. Then, we compared the BGC-823 cells’ migration capacity by transwell assay. Finally, we predicted the possible targets of miR-129-1-3p and selected one target for further analysis by QRT-PCR and luciferase reporter assay. The results showed that the expression of miR-129-1-3p in gastric carcinoma was significantly lower than that in surgical margin samples. And miR-129-1-3p could inhibit the migration of BGC-823 cells. From the candidates, we selected bradykinin receptor B2 (BDKRB2), which was reported relating to metastasis, as a target for further analysis. QRT-PCR showed that the expression of BDKRB2 was negatively related to miR-129-1-3p. Luciferase reporter assay showed that BDKRB2 was the target of the miR-129-1-3p. In summary, miR-129-1-3p inhibits the BGC-823 cell migration by targeting BDKRB2.