OBJECTIVETo detect miR-143 expression in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cell lines and explore the role of miR-143 in regulating the adhesion ability of NPC cells.

METHODSFluorescence quantitative RT-PCR was used to detect miR-143 expression levels in 5 NPC cell lines (CEN1, CNE2, HONE1, 5-8F, and 6-10B) and an immortalized human nasopharyngeal epithelial cell line (NP69). The retrovirus plasmid pMSCV-puro-miR-143 was constructed and the packaged retroviruses pMSCV-puro and pMSCV-puro-miR-143 were infected in 5-8F cells to establish a cell line with stable miR-143 overexpression, whose adhesion ability was tested with adhesion assay.

RESULTSThe expression of miR-143 was down- regulated in the NPC cell lines, and the highly metastatic NPC cell line 5-8F had a expression of only 3.0% of the control level, as compared with the level of 63.59% in the tumorigenic but nonmetastatic NPC cell line 6-10B. The transfected 5-8F cells showed a 1080-fold increase of miR-143 expression (P<0.05) with a significantly lowered adhesion ability.

CONCLUSIONmiR-143 plays a role in regulating the invasiveness and metastasis of NPC, and overexpression of miR-143 causes a significant reduction of the adhesion ability of the highly metastatic NPC cell line 5-8F.