abstract: miR-20a promotes proliferation and invasion by targeting APP in human ovarian cancer cells.

define: microRNA - A short piece of single-stranded RNA that does not encode a protein and controls the expression of genes.
Abstract:

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are emerging as a class of small regulated RNAs, and the alterations of miRNAs are implicated in the initiation and progression of human cancers. Our study shows that inhibition of miR-20a in OVCAR3 ovarian cancer cell line could suppress, whereas overexpression of miR-20a could enhance cell long-term proliferation and invasion. We also confirmed amyloid precursor protein (APP) as a direct target gene of miR- 20a. Furthermore, suppression of APP expression could also promote ovarian cancer cell proliferation and invasion, which is consistent with the results of miR-20a overexpression. Therefore, we concluded that the regulation of APP is an important mechanism for miR-20a to promote proliferation and invasion in ovarian cancer cells.