miRNA-584-3p inhibits gastric cancer progression by repressing Yin Yang 1- facilitated MMP-14 expression

Recent evidence shows the emerging roles of promoter-targeting endogenous microRNAs (miRNAs) in regulating gene transcription. However, miRNAs affecting the transcription of matrix metalloproteinase 14 (MMP-14) in gastric cancer remain unknown. Herein, through integrative mining of public datasets, we identified the adjacent targeting sites of Yin Yang 1 (YY1) and miRNA-584-3p (miR-584-3p) within MMP-14 promoter. We demonstrated that YY1 directly targeted the MMP-14 promoter to facilitate its expression in gastric cancer cells. In contrast, miR-584-3p recognized its complementary site within MMP-14 promoter to suppress its expression. Mechanistically, miR-584-3p interacted with Argonaute 2 to recruit enhancer of zeste homolog 2 and euchromatic histone lysine methyltransferase 2, resulting in enrichment of repressive epigenetic markers and decreased binding of YY1 to MMP-14 promoter. miR-584-3p inhibited the in vitro and in vivo tumorigenesis and aggressiveness of gastric cancer cells through repressing YY1-facilitated MMP-14 expression. In clinical gastric cancer tissues, the expression of YY1 and miR-584-3p was positively or negatively correlated with MMP-14 levels. In addition, miR-584-3p and YY1 were independent prognostic factors associated with favorable and unfavorable outcome of gastric cancer patients, respectively. These data demonstrate that miR-584-3p directly targets the MMP-14 promoter to repress YY1-facilitated MMP-14 expression and inhibits the progression of gastric cancer.