MicroRNA-934 promotes the development of non-small cell lung cancer by targeting and negatively regulating zinc finger protein 36

MA Min; ZHAO Mingming; XU Qiaoyun

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1009-0460.2025.05.001

Abstract：Objective To explore the roles and regulatory mechanisms of miR-934 and zinc finger protein 36(ZFP36)in non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC)cells,and it was of great significance to reveal the pathogenesis of NSCLC and find potential therapeutic targets.Methods Firstly,real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction(RT-qPCR)and Western blotting were used to detect the expression levels of miR-934 and ZFP36 in NSCLC tissues and cells.Then,the expression of miR-934 miR-934 mimics,miR-934 inhibitor and ZFP36 overexpression plasmids(pcDNA-ZFP36)was transfected in NSCLC cell lines(A549 and H1299),and the ability of cell viability,proliferation,migration,invasion and apoptosis were dectected by the cell counting Kit-8(CCK-8),5-Ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine(EdU)assay,Transwell,and flow cytometry.The targeting relationship between miR-934 and ZFP36 were validated through luciferase reporter assay.Results The qPCR detection results showed that the expression of miR-934 in NSCLC tissues was significantly higher than that in normal lung tissues,and the expression level in NSCLC cell lines was significantly higher than that in normal lung cell lines(P<0.05).The experimental results showed that compared with the miR-934 NC group,the miR-934 inhibitor group significantly reduced the proliferation,migration,and invasion abilities of A549 and H1299 cells,and increased the apoptosis rate(P<0.05),and the proliferation,migration,and invasion abilities of A549 and H1299 cells were enhanced in the miR-934 mimics group,while the apoptosis rate was reduced(P<0.05).Luciferase reporter assay confirmed that miR-934 targeted the 3′-UTR of ZFP36.qPCR and Western-blotting detection showed that ZFP36 was down-expressed in NSCLC cells and negatively correlated with the expression of miR-934.Further experiments found that pcDNA-ZFP36 could inhibit the proliferation,migration,and invasion of A549 and H1299 cells and increase cell apoptosis,and miR-934 mimics could reverse the above-mentioned effects of pcDNA-ZFP36.Conclusion Highly expressed miR-934 might accelerate the progression of NSCLC by negatively regulating the expression of ZFP36,suggesting that miR-934 was a potential biomarker for NSCLC.