MicroRNA-219-5p exerts tumor suppressor function by targeting ROBO1 in glioblastoma

Previous studies have shown that miR-219-5p is dysregulated and exerts tumor-suppressive effects in cancer development and progression. However, the molecular function and mechanism of miR-219-5p in glioblastoma growth and invasion are still unclear. In the present study, we show that miR-219-5p was downregulated in a panel of glioma tissues with different grades and in all the human glioma cell lines examined. Ectopic expression of miR-219-5p inhibited proliferation and invasion and induced apoptosis in vitro, and xenograft formation in vivo. ROBO1 was found to be a direct target of miR-219-5p, and when overexpressed in miR-219-5p-expressing glioma cells, was able to restore proliferative and invasive ability. Finally, in vivo investigation confirmed that miR-219-5p was a tumor suppressor that regulated ROBO1 expression. Taken together, these studies demonstrate that miR-219-5p inhibited cancer cell growth and invasion by direct targeting ROBO1, implicating miR-219-5p as an attractive candidate for cancer therapy.