Abstract: Objective　To investigate the inhibitory effect of microRNA (miR)-124 targetingly regulating chemokine-like factor super family 6 (CMTM6) on the invasion and migration of glioma cells. Methods　The levels of miR-124 and CMTM6 mRNA in OLN93, SHG-44, U87, U251 and A172 cells were detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (qPCR). The levels of CMTM6 protein in OLN93, SHG-44, U87, U251 and A172 cells were detected by Western blot assay. The miRTarBase was used to predict the binding sites of miR-124 and CMTM6. There were four experimental groups in this study: mimic NC group, miR-124 mimic group, miR-124 mimic+pcDNA group and miR-124 mimic+CMTM6 group. The mimic NC, mimic miR-124, pcDNA and pcDNA+CMTM6 were transfected into each cell group. The levels of miR-124 and CMTM6 mRNA were detected by qPCR. CCK-8 was used to detect the cell proliferation. Transwell test was used to detect cell invasion and migration. The cell migration was detected by scratch test. The protein levels of CMTM6 and cell surface programmed death protein ligand 1 (PD-L1) were detected by Western blot assay. Results　Compared with OLN93 group, the levels of miR-124 were lower in SHG-44, U87, U251 and A172 groups (P＜0.05). The levels of CMTM6 mRNA and protein were higher (P＜0.05). U251 cells were selected for subsequent experiments. miRTarBase predicted that there was a binding site between miR-124 and CMTM6, which was verified by double luciferase reporter gene experiment. Compared with that in mimic NC group and miR-124 mimic+CMTM6 group, the levels of miR-124 in miR-124 mimic group and miR-124 mimic+pcDNA group were higher (P＜0.05), and the level of CMTM6 mRNA was lower. After cells were cultured for 24, 48, 72, 96 h, the cell OD450 decreased, the numbers of invasion and migration cells decreased, the protein levels of CMTM6 and PD-L1 were lower (P＜0.05). Conclusion　Increasing the expression of miR-124 can down-regulate the expression of CMTM6, thereby inhibiting the invasion and migration of glioma cells.

Key words: microRNAs, glioma, neoplasm invasiveness, cell movement, chemokine-like factor super family 6, glioma cells, miR-124