MicroRNA-194 restrains the cell progression of non-small cell lung cancer by targeting human nuclear distribution protein C.

NSCLC accounts for over 80% of all lung cancers and is associated with poor prognosis. Human nuclear distribution C (hNUDC) was predicted to be the target gene of microRNA-194 (miR-194). The present study was designed to demonstrate the mechanism of miR-194 in the regulation of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) via targeting the hNUDC. The hNUDC expression was found to strongly be increased while the miR-194 decreased significantly in the NSCLC cell lines when compared with the healthy controls. Moreover, the luciferase report confirmed the targeting reaction between miR-194 and hNUDC. After transfection with miR-194 mimic into NSCLC cells, we found that the miR-194 overexpression resulted in abnormal nuclear division, decreased cell proliferation and inhibited the expression of hNUDC and Mpl/ERK pathway proteins. Furthermore, the hNUDC overexpression affected the suppression effect of miR-194 in 95D cells, indicating that miR-194 suppresses tumor cell process by inhibiting the hNUDC expression. In brief, the present study suggests that the upregulation of miR-194 affects the hNUDC expression, leading to a downregulated expression of Mpl/ERK pathway proteins, and suppresses the mitosis and proliferation of NSCLC cells. These results offer a potential therapeutic strategy for the treatment of lung cancer.