Interestingly, miR-196a was significantly overexpressed also in human NSCLC-derived cell lines (n=11) and primary lung cancer samples (n=28).By manipulating the expression of miR-196a in BEAS-2B and NCI-H460 cells, we obtained compelling evidence that this miRNA acts downstream the PI3K/AKT pathway, mediating some of the proliferative, pro-migratory and tumorigenic activity that this pathway exerts in lung epithelial cells, possibly through the regulation of FoxO1, CDKN1B (hereafter p27) and HOXA9.
Therefore, we suggest that HOXA9 plays a central role in controlling the aggressive behavior of lung cancer cells and that miR-196b can serve as a potential target for developing anticancer agents.
Taken together, our results show that the combined profiling analysis technique is a useful tool for identifying biomarkers in lung cancer and that HOXA9 might be a potential candidate gene for the pathogenesis and diagnosis of NSCLC patients.