Objective To investigate the effects of miR-25 targeted regulation of DKK3 gene on the proliferation, apoptosis and migration of prostate cancer PC-3 cells and its mechanism.

Methods A total of 24 patients with prostate cancer who were diagnosed and treated by radical prostatectomy were selected as the study subjects, and 24 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia who underwent electrosurgical resection at the same time were selected as the control group.The morphological changes of prostate tissue in two groups were observed by HE staining.Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the expression of miR-25 in tissues.The expression of DKK3 in tissues was detected by immunohistochemistry.Human prostate cancer PC-3 cells were cultured in vitro, miR-25 NC (NC group) and miR-25 inhibitors (miR-25 inhibitors group) were transfected into PC-3 cells by Lipofectamine 2000, the effect of miR-25 on cells proliferation was detected by MTT assay, the migration of PC-3 cells were detected by Transwell assay, the effect of miR-25 on PC-3 cells apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry, and Western blotting was used to detect DKK3 protein expression in PC-3 cells after transfection.

Results The expression of miR-25 in prostate cancer was significantly higher than that in benign prostatic hyperplasia (P < 0.05), and the expression of DKK3 was significantly lower (P < 0.05).Compared with the NC group, the proliferation rate of cells in the miR-25 inhibitors group was significantly decreased (P < 0.05), the ability of cells migration was significantly reduced (P < 0.01), the apoptosis rate was significantly increased (P < 0.01), and the expression level of DKK3 was significantly increased (P < 0.05).

Conclusions MiR-25 promotes the proliferation and migration of prostate cancer PC-3 cells and inhibits apoptosis by targeting DKK3.