Long Noncoding RNA MEG3 Inhibits Cell Proliferation and Metastasis in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia via Targeting miR-184.

Maternally expressed gene 3 (MEG3), a long noncoding RNA, has been reported to be associated with the pathogenesis of multiple malignancies. However, little is known regarding the role of MEG3 in leukemia. In this study, we found that the expression of MEG3 was decreased in leukemia patients and cell lines and has potential to be considered as a biomarker for leukemia. In addition, overexpression of MEG3 inhibited cell proliferation and invasion in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, a potential bonding site between miR-184 and MEG3 was predicted, and low expression of miR-184 was found in leukemia patients and cell lines. In vitro loss and gain of function showed that overexpression of MEG3 significantly decreased the expression of miR-184, and MEG3 knockdown markedly increased it. Furthermore, our results showed that MEG3 interacted with miR-184 and subsequently mitigated the proliferation and invasion of leukemia cells by downregulating related proteins. In conclusion, our study has identified a novel pathway through which MEG3 acts as a tumor suppressor in leukemia at the level of miRNAs and provided a molecular basis for potential applications of MEG3 in the prognosis and treatment of leukemia.