Glioma is the most common primary
tumor of the central nervous system. We previously confirmed that zinc finger E-box binding homeobox (ZEB) 2 promotes the malignant progression of
glioma, while microRNA-637 (miR-637) is associated with favorable prognosis in
glioma. This study aimed to investigate the potential interaction between ZEB2 and miR-637 and its downstream signaling pathway in
glioma. The results revealed that ZEB2 could directly bind to the E-box elements in the miR-637 promoter and promote cell proliferation, migration, and invasion via miR-637 downregulation. Subsequent screening confirmed that HMGA1 was a direct target of miR-637, while miR-637 could drive the malignant phenotype of
glioma by suppressing HMGA1 both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, interaction between cytoplasmic HMGA1 and
vimentin was observed, and
vimentin inhibition could abolish increased migration and invasion induced by HMGA1 overexpression. Both HMGA1 and
vimentin were associated with an unfavorable prognosis in
glioma. Additionally, upregulated HMGA1 and
vimentin were found in
isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) wild-type and 1p/19q non-codeletion diffusely infiltrating
glioma. In conclusion, we identified an oncogenic ZEB2/miR-637/HMGA1 signaling axis targeting
vimentin that promotes both migration and invasion in
glioma.