被撤回的出版物: MicroRNA-18b inhibits the growth of malignant melanoma via inhibition of HIF-1α-mediated glycolysis (Retracted article. See vol. 46, 2021)

MicroRNAs (miRs) have been demonstrated to play critical roles in the development and progression of malignant melanoma (MM). However, the exact role and underlying mechanism of miR-18b in MM growth remains unclear. In the present study, real-time PCR data indicated that miR-18b was significantly downregulated in MM tissues compared to their matched adjacent non-tumor tissues. Low miR-18b expression was significantly associated with the tumor thickness and stage, although no significant association was observed between the miR-18b expression and the age, gender, or lymph node metastasis. Besides, miR-18b was also significantly downregulated in MM B16 and A375 cells compared to normal skin HACAT cells. Ectopic expression of miR-18b decreased the proliferation of A375 and B16 cells, while induced a remarkable cell cycle arrest at 01 stage. Besides, miR-18b overexpression also inhibited the glycolysis in A375 and B16 cells. HIF-1 alpha, a key regulator in glycolysis, was then identified as a target gene of miR-18b, and its expression was negatively mediated by miR-18b in A375 and B16 cells. Overexpression of HIF-1 alpha rescued the suppressive effect of miR-18b on MM cell proliferation and glycolysis. In vivo study further showed that overexpression of miR-18b inhibited the MM growth as well as the tumor-related death, accompanied with HIF-1 alpha downregulation. Taken together, the present study suggests that miR-18b inhibits the growth of MM cells in vitro and in vivo through directly targeting HIF-1 alpha.