miR-197-5p increases Doxorubicin-mediated anticancer cytotoxicity of HT1080 fibrosarcoma cells by decreasing drug efflux

Doxorubicin (Dox) is one of the most used drugs in the treatment of Soft tissue sarcoma. However, acquired resistance linked with poor survival and numerous side effects are the major challenges. Meanwhile, miRNAs are reported to influence the chemotherapeutic responses. However, there is hardly any evidence on the involvement of tumor-suppressive miR-197 reported in our previous study in augmenting the sensitivity of fibrosarcoma cells to Dox. Therefore, in this study, we intend to decipher if miR-197-5p combined with Dox could increase the anticancer cytotoxicity. For this, we evaluated the antitumorigenic effects of Dox and miR-197-5p individually and in combination by performing a series of molecular assays. We noticed that the sub-lethal concentration of miR-197-5p markedly enhanced the sensitivity of HT1080 fibrosarcoma cells to Dox by promoting apoptosis and G2/M cell cycle arrest. We also observed miR-197-5p sensitizes HT1080 cells to Dox by increasing drug influx, possibly due to suppression of MDR genes (ABCC1, MVP). Moreover, we found that KIAA0101, a target of miR-197-5p is inhibited by Dox, which is further repressed when treated in combination with miRNA. We also observed a marked upregulation of p53, known to be negatively correlated with KIAA0101 in Dox and miR-197-5p combination treatment compared to Dox alone. Taken together, our study revealed that Dox chemotherapy in combination with miR-197-5p could overcome the problem of drug efflux and enhance its antitumor effects on fibrosarcoma.