Objective: This study set out to investigate the effect of miR-1253  on lung cancer progression through targeted regulation of ANXA3 .
Methods: RT-PCR was employed to detect the miR-1253  expression levels in lung cancer cells and its targeted gene ANXA3  mRNA determined by biological information prediction. MTT, invasion and apoptosis rate tests were employed to detect the proliferation, invasion and apoptosis rate of lung cancer cells over-expressing miR-1253  or those with low expression of ANXA3  and the expression of related proteins.
Results: RT-qPCR results manifested that the miR-1253  level was down-regulated in lung cancer tissues and cells, and the ANXA3  expression increased. The miR-1253  and ANXA3  expression levels were negatively correlated. miR-1253  was correlated with tumor differentiation degree, TNM stage and lymph node metastasis of lung cancer patients. Cell tests confirmed that miR-1253  played a tumor-inhibiting function, including inhibiting proliferation and invasion of lung cancer cells and promoting apoptosis. Bioinformatics prediction and subsequent experiments proved that ANXA3  was the direct target of miR-1253 . Moreover, after the ANXA3  expression in lung cancer cells was knocked down, proliferation and invasion of those cells were inhibited dramatically, the apoptosis rate increased markedly, and the expression levels of pro-apoptosis-related proteins Bax  and caspase-3  were up-regulated, and the anti-apoptosis-related protein Bcl-2  expression was down-regulated.
Conclusion: miR-1253  can inhibit the proliferation and invasion of lung cancer cells and promote their apoptosis by targeting ANXA3 . It can be used as a new potential target for lung cancer treatment.
Keywords: miR-1253 , lung cancer, ANXA3 , proliferation, invasion, apoptosis