The IKKα-regulated microRNA miR-9-5p mediates lung cancer growth and invasiveness via CDH1/Wnt/β-catenin signalling

To interrogate the IKKα signalling network in NSCLC, we investigated the impact of IKKα silencing on the miRNA expression profile of NSCLC cells. Nanostring miRNome analysis identified miR-9-5p, a known oncomir, as the top upregulated miRNA upon IKKα depletion.

We show that overexpression of miR-9-5p in human lung cancer cells increases cell migration and invasion and promotes epithelial-to-mesenchymal cell transition (EMT) through loss of E-cadherin and activation of the Akt1/β-catenin pathway. In vivo tumour xenograft models show that overexpression of miR-9-5p promotes tumour growth, and widespread transcriptomic reprogramming, altering the expression of genes related to EMT, apoptosis and NF-κB signalling.