Lung cancer is the most deadly malignancy in the last decade, accounting for about 1.6 million deaths every year globally. Tanshinone is the constituent of Salvia miltiorrhiza; it has been found that they influence tumorigenesis. However, the role of tanshinones on lung cancer is still not clear. Let-7a-5p, a short non-coding RNA, is regarded as a suppressor gene in tumorigenesis. Herein, we verified that let-7a-5p is significantly downregulated in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tissues and cell lines. Tanshinone suppressed the expression of aurora kinase A (AURKA), inhibited cell proliferation, and arrested cell cycle progression. Our results showed that tanshinones suppressed NSCLC by upregulating the expressions of let-7a-5p via directly targeting AURKA. Besides, the data reveal that the knockdown of AURKA can also inhibit cell proliferation, arrest cell cycle, and promote cell apoptosis. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that AURKA was negatively correlated with let-7a-5p in NSCLC patient tissues. Taken together, our findings suggest that tanshinone inhibits NSCLC by downregulating AURKA through let-7a-5p. Tanshinones and let-7a-5p have the potential to be candidates for drug development of NSCLC. In conclusion, this study revealed that tanshinones with miRNA linking lead to partial mechanism in NSCLC.

肺癌是过去十年中最致命的恶性肿瘤，全球每年约有160万人死亡。丹参酮是丹参; 已经发现它们影响肿瘤发生。然而，丹参酮对肺癌的作用仍不清楚。短的非编码RNA Let-7a-5p被认为是肿瘤发生中的抑制基因。在本文中，我们证实了let-7a-5p在非小细胞肺癌（NSCLC）组织和细胞系中显着下调。丹参酮抑制极光激酶A（AURKA）的表达，抑制细胞增殖，并阻止细胞周期进程。我们的结果表明，丹参酮通过直接靶向AURKA上调let-7a-5p的表达来抑制NSCLC。此外，数据显示，敲低AURKA还可以抑制细胞增殖，阻止细胞周期并促进细胞凋亡。此外，这项研究表明，在非小细胞肺癌患者组织中，AURKA与let-7a-5p呈负相关。两者合计，我们的发现表明丹参酮通过let-7a-5p下调AURKA抑制NSCLC。Tanshinones和let-7a-5p有潜力成为NSCLC药物开发的候选药物。总之，这项研究表明丹参酮与miRNA连接导致了NSCLC的部分机制。