OBJECTIVETo investigate the expression of miR-29b in cholangiocarcinoma and explore its effects on cell proliferation and apoptosis of cholangiocarcinoma cells.

METHODSReal-time PCR was used to detect the expression of miR-29b in cholangiocarcinoma cells line QBC939 and cholangiocarcinoma tissues. The lentiviral vector LV-hsa-miR-29b and blank vector were constructed to infect QBC939 cells. MTT assay and cell clone formation assay were performed to assess the changes in the cell proliferation and clone formation, respectively; flow cytometry was employed to evaluate the effect of miR-29b overexpression on cell cycle and apoptosis.

RESULTSThe expression of miR-29b was significantly down-regulated in QBC939 cells and cholangiocarcinoma tissues as compared with H-69 cells and normal tissues ( < 0.01). Compared with the blank vector, the lentiviral vector LV-hsa-miR-29b caused significantly increased expression of miR-29b in QBC939 cells ( < 0.01), which exhibited suppressed cell proliferation and clone formation ( < 0.01 or 0.05), cell cycle arrest at the S phase ( < 0.05), and significantly increased cell apoptosis ( < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSAs a tumor-suppressing miRNA, miR-29b is down-regulated in cholangiocarcinoma, and its overexpression can suppress the proliferation and induce apoptosis of cholangiocarcinoma cells.