miR-148a inhibits early relapsed colorectal cancers and the secretion of VEGF by indirectly targeting HIF-1α under non-hypoxia/hypoxia conditions.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is correlated with angiogenesis and early relapse of colorectal cancer (CRC). This study investigated the role of miR-148a in the regulation of VEGF/angiogenesis and early relapse of CRC. We established a stable clone with miR-148a expression in HCT116 and HT29 cell lines and created a hypoxic condition by using CoCl2 to determine the underlying mechanism of miR-148a. The effects of miR-148a on the phosphoryl-ERK (pERK)/hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α)/VEGF pathway were evaluated through Western blotting and the inhibitory effect of miR-148a on angiogenesis was demonstrated through a tube formation assay. Sixty-three CRC tissues (28 early relapse and 35 non-early relapse) were analysed to assess the relationship between miR-148a and HIF-1α/VEGF. The protein expression of pERK/HIF-1α/VEGF in HCT116 and HT29 cells was significantly decreased by miR-148a (all P < 0.05). The protein expression of VEGF/HIF-1α was strongly inversely associated with the expression of miR-148a in the 63 CRC tissue samples (all P < 0.05). Tube formation assay demonstrated that miR-148a significantly obliterated angiogenesis. miR-148a suppresses VEGF through down-regulation of the pERK/HIF-1α/VEGF pathway and might lead to the inhibition of angiogenesis; miR-148a down-regulation increased the early relapse rate of CRC. This demonstrates that miR-148a is a potential diagnostic and therapeutic target.