miR‐16‐5p modulates the radiosensitivity of cervical cancer cells via regulating coactivator‐associated arginine methyltransferase 1

This study was to investigate the expression of coactivator‐associated arginine methyltransferase 1 (CARM1) and miR‐16‐5p in cervical cancer (CC), and explore their roles in radioresistance. Western blot and immunohistochemistry were used to detect the expression of CARM1 in tissues and cells. Reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) was used to detect the expression of miR‐16‐5p. CC cells received different doses of X‐ray exposure, and then cell counting kit‐8 method and colony formation assay were used to detect cell proliferation. Apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry. Then we used Targetscan database to predict that CARM1 is a potential target of miR‐16‐5p, and further verified the targeting relationship between them by western blot, RT‐PCR and dual luciferase reporter experiments. We demonstrated that CARM1 were highly expressed in CC tissues and radio‐resistant CC cells, while miR‐16‐5p expression was low. Under irradiation, up‐regulation of CARM1 can induce radiotherapy resistance of CC cells, while overexpression of miR‐16‐5p or CARM1 knockdown could inhibit the survival of CC cell and induced apoptosis. CARM1 was verified as a target for miR‐16‐5p. Besides, up‐regulation of CARM1 reversed the increase in radiosensitivity induced by miR‐16‐5p. Collectively, we concluded that miR‐16‐5p promoted the radiosensitivity of CC cells by targeting CARM1.