Molecular Bases of Disease
miR-203, a Tumor Suppressor Frequently Down-regulated by Promoter Hypermethylation in Rhabdomyosarcoma*

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Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common soft tissue sarcoma found in children and young adults. It is characterized by the expression of a number of skeletal muscle-specific proteins, including MyoD and muscle α-actin. However, unlike normal myoblasts, RMS cells differentiate poorly both in vivo and in culture. As microRNAs are known to regulate tumorigenesis, intensive efforts have been made to identify microRNAs that are involved in RMS development. In this work, we found that miR-203 was frequently down-regulated by promoter hypermethylation in both RMS cell lines and RMS biopsies and could be reactivated by DNA-demethylating agents. Re-expression of miR-203 in RMS cells inhibited their migration and proliferation and promoted terminal myogenic differentiation. Mechanistically, miR-203 exerts its tumor-suppressive effect by directly targeting p63 and leukemia inhibitory factor receptor in RMS cells, which promotes myogenic differentiation by inhibiting the Notch and the JAK1/STAT1/STAT3 pathways, respectively. Our work reveals that miR-203 functions as a tumor suppressor in RMS development.

DNA Methylation
JAK Kinase
Notch
p63
Proliferation
Rhabdomyosarcoma
Leukemia Inhibitory Factor Receptor
miR-203
Muscle Differentiation

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This work was supported by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Grant 20110490921 (to Y. D.), Shenzhen Basic Research Program Grant JCYJ20120618172119166 (to Y. D.), Hong Kong Research Grant Council Grant GRF663511 (to Z. W.), and the State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

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Y. Diao, X. Guo, and Z. Wu, unpublished data.

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Both authors contributed equally to this work.