Exosomal miRNA-188–3p derived from cancer-associated fibroblasts promotes ferroptosis in cervical cancer: Medical biothermal image analysis

The study aimed to explore the potential mechanism of action of extracellular miRNA-188-3p derived from CAFs in cervical cancer. In this study, CAFs were isolated from patients with cervical cancer, and exosomes were extracted by ultrafast centrifugation method to detect the expression level of miRNA-188-3p in exosomes. Subsequently, the exosomes were co-cultured with cervical cancer cells, and the temperature changes of the cells were monitored by medical thermal image analysis technology to evaluate the metabolic activity of the cells. Western blot and qPCR were used to detect protein and mRNA expression levels related to iron metabolism in order to investigate the role of miRNA-188-3p in iron metabolism of cervical cancer cells. The results showed that the expression level of miRNA-188-3p in exosomes derived from CAFs was significantly higher than that of exosomes derived from normal fibroblasts. Medical thermal image analysis showed that cervical cancer cells treated with miRNA-188-3p showed higher metabolic activity, manifested by increased temperature. The results of cell proliferation test, scratch test and Transwell invasion test all showed that miRNA-188-3p promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells. Further molecular mechanism studies showed that miRNA-188-3p regulates iron homeostasis in cervical cancer cells by targeting genes related to iron metabolism, thereby promoting cell proliferation and invasion.