Abstract Objectives Nearly 90 % of oral cancers are squamous cell carcinomas, which are malignant tumors that occur in the oral cavity. The present work is intended to explore the clinical relevance of miR-25-3p in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and to uncover potential targets. Methods In the research, a total of 78 participants were recruited, including 48 OSCC patients and 30 controls. By RT-qPCR, we analyzed the distribution of miR-25-3p in OSCC tissues and cells and estimated the clinical diagnostic value of miR-25-3p using the ROC curve. The expression of miR-25-3p in OSCC was characterized by RT-qPCR. Cell proliferation and migration were evaluated using CCK-8, RT-qPCR, and Transwell assay. In addition, knockdown and over-expression models were established to verify that miR-25-3p affects OSCC progression by modulating CD69 . Results miR-25-3p expression was higher in OSCC patients compared with normal controls (NC). miR-25-3p was able to effectively distinguish OSCC patients. In OSCC patients, miR-25-3p expression was significantly increased and served to accelerate the proliferation and metastasis of OSCC cell lines by targeting CD69 . The use of miR-25-3p inhibitors significantly inhibited cell migration, whereas overexpression of miR-25-3p had the opposite effect. Knockdown of CD69 resulted in the reversal of proliferation and migration induced by miR-25-3p overexpression. Conclusions The current study demonstrated the diagnostic relevance of miR-25-3p. miR-25-3p regulates OSCC development via targeting CD69 , implying that CD69 may serve a critical function in OSCC pathogenesis.
Xiang et al. (Sat,) studied this question.