RETRACTED ARTICLE: MicroRNA-488 inhibits tongue squamous carcinoma cell invasion and EMT by directly targeting ATF3

Bingxia Shi, Wei Yan, Guolin Liu, Yanjun Guo

It has been reported that the expression of activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3) is closely associated with both microRNA (miRNA) processing and the progress of many cancers. Our study aimed to explore the interaction between ATF3 and miR-488 in tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC). Quantitative real-time PCR was performed to detect the levels of ATF3 and miR-488 in TSCC tissues and cell lines. Cell invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) were assessed to determine the biological functions of miR-488 and ATF3 in TSCC cells. The mRNA and protein levels of ATF3 were measured using quantitative RT-PCR and western blotting. Luciferase assays were performed to validate ATF3 as an miR-488 target in TSCC cells. We found that the level of miR-488 significantly decreased and the expression of ATF3 significantly increased in TSCC tissues and cell lines. A low level of miR-488 was closely associated with increased expression of ATF3 in TSCC tissues. Introducing miR-488 significantly inhibited the invasion and EMT of TSCC cells, and knockdown of miR-488 promoted both processes. The bioinformatics analysis predicted that ATF3 is a potential target gene of miR-488. The luciferase reporter assay showed that miR-488 could directly target ATF3. ATF3 silencing had similar effects to miR-488 overexpression on TSCC cells. Overexpression of ATF3 in TSCC cells partially reversed the inhibitory effects of the miR-488 mimic. miR-488 inhibited cell invasion and EMT of TSCC cells by directly downregulating ATF3 expression.