Abstract: Objective To explore the effect of atorvastatin (AVT) on biological behaviors and the miR-146a/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in human glioma cells. Methods Human glioma U251 cells were treated with 8.0 μmol/L AVT or transfected with a miR-146a inhibitor or a negative control fragment (miR-146a NC) prior to AVT treatment. RT-PCR was used to detect miR-146a expression in the cells, and the changes in cell proliferation rate, apoptosis, cell invasion and migration were detected using MTT assay, flow cytometry, and Transwell assay. Western blotting was performed to detect the changes in cellular expressions of proteins in the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Results AVT treatment for 48 h resulted in significantly increased miR-146a expression and cell apoptosis (P<0.01) and obviously lowered the cell proliferation rate, invasion index, migration index, and expressions of p-PI3K and p-Akt protein in U251 cells (P<0.01). Compared with AVT treatment alone, transfection with miR-146a inhibitor prior to AVT treatment significantly reduced miR-146a expression and cell apoptosis (P<0.01), increased the cell proliferation rate, promoted cell invasion and migration, and enhanced the expressions of p-PI3K and p-Akt proteins in the cells (P<0.01); these effects were not observed following transfection with miR-146a NC group (P>0.05). Conclusion AVT can inhibit the proliferation, invasion and migration and promote apoptosis of human glioma cells possibly by up-regulating miR-146a expression and inhibiting the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

Key words: human glioma; U251 cells; atorvastatin; miR-146a; PI3K/Akt; biological behaviors