MiR-34c-3p upregulates erastin-induced ferroptosis to inhibit proliferation in oral squamous cell carcinomas by targeting SLC7A11

Abstract

Background: MiRNA is a small molecule RNA that plays an important role in a variety of physiological and pathological processes., and miR-34c-3p has been demonstrated to be closely related to the occurrence of tumors. Ferroptosis is a new form of cell death characterized by lipid-based reactive oxygen species accumulation. However, it is still unclear how miR-34c-3p influences the development of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) by regulating ferroptosis. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to explore the role and mechanism of miR-34c-3p in OSCC.

Materials and methods: The expression of miR-34c-3p in OSCC and matched normal tissues was detected by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Subsequently, the effect of miR-34c-3p overexpression on cell proliferation and ferroptosis was evaluated using CCK8, colony formation assays, Live/Dead staining, Western blotting analysis, ROS, MDA, and GSH assay.

Results: The results showed lower expression of miR-34c-3p in OSSC compared with normal tissues. Overexpression of miR-34c-3p in SCC-25 cells suppressed cell proliferation. In addition, the overexpression of miR-34c-3p promoted ferroptosis by increasing ROS, MDA, and iron and decreasing GSH and GPX4 levels in SCC-25 cells.

Conclusion: Our findings revealed a novel strategy to upregulate erastin-induced ferroptosis in OSCC through the miR-34c-3p/SLC7A11 axis, suggesting new insights into OSCC and a potentially useful therapeutic strategy for OSCC.

Keywords: Ferroptosis; MiR-34c-3p; Oral squamous cell carcinoma; Proliferation; SLC7A11.