Suppression of miR-93-5p inhibits high-risk HPV-positive cervical cancer progression via targeting of BTG3

A comprehensive review on the functional role of miRNA clusters in cervical cancer

Cervical cancer (CC) poses a significant health threat in women globally. MicroRNA clusters (MCs), comprising multiple miRNA-encoding genes, are pivotal in gene regulation. Various factors, including circular RNA and DNA methylation, govern MC expression. Dysregulated MC expression correlates strongly with CC development via promoting the acquisition of cancer hallmarks. Certain MCs show promise for diagnosis, prognosis and therapy selection due to their distinct expression patterns in normal, premalignant and tumor tissues. This review explains the regulation and biological functions of MCs and highlights the clinical relevance of abnormal MC expression in CC.

Bioinformatics analysis illustrates the functions of miR-377-5p in cervical cancer

Cervical cancer (CC) is a frequent disease in women whose development is related with miRNA disorder. MiR-377-5p plays a negative role in the development of some tumors, while few studies have revealed its role in CC. In this study, the functions of miR-377-5p in CC were investigated by bioinformatics. Briefly, the expression and survival curve of miR-377-5p in CC was analyzed with the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, and the abundance of miR-377-5p in clinical samples and CC cell lines were measured by qRT-PCR. Moreover, the MicroRNA Data Integration Portal (miRDIP) database was used to predict targets of miR-377-5p, and the Database for Annotation Visualization and Integrated Discovery (David) was used for enrichment analysis of the functions of the miR-377-5p. The Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes (STRING) database was used to screen the hub targets of miR-377-5p. Moreover, the Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) database was used to analyze the abundance of the genes in CC. Results showed that decreased miR-377-5p was found in the CC tissues and cell lines, and low miR-377-5p was connected with poor prognosis of patients. Besides, the targets of miR-377-5p were enriched in the PI3K/AKT, MAPK and RAS signaling pathways. Moreover, CDC42, FLT1, TPM3 and CAV1 were screened as hub nodes in the targets of miR-377-5p, and increased CDC42, FLT1, TPM3 and CAV1 also indicated the poor survival rates of the patients in the long term. In conclusion, this study suggests that miR-377-5p downregulation is a biomarker event for CC progression.

MiRNA-93: a novel signature in human disorders and drug resistance

miRNA-93 is a member of the miR-106b-25 family and is encoded by a gene on chromosome 7q22.1. They play a role in the etiology of various diseases, including cancer, Parkinson's disease, hepatic injury, osteoarthritis, acute myocardial infarction, atherosclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and chronic kidney disease. Different studies have found that this miRNA has opposing roles in the context of cancer. Recently, miRNA-93 has been downregulated in breast cancer, gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, bladder cancer, cervical cancer, and renal cancer. However, miRNA-93 is up-regulated in a wide variety of malignancies, such as lung, colorectal, glioma, prostate, osteosarcoma, and hepatocellular carcinoma. The aim of the current review is to provide an overview of miRNA-93's function in cancer disorder progression and non-cancer disorders, with a focus on dysregulated signaling pathways. We also give an overview of this miRNA's function as a biomarker of prognosis in cancer and emphasize how it contributes to drug resistance based on in vivo, in vitro, and human studies. Video Abstract.

Overexpression of miR-3653 is Associated with HPV Infection and Serves as a Biomarker in Patients with Cervical Cancer

Background

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a major cause of cervical cancer (CC) occurrence. This study aimed to explore whether abnormal microRNA (miR)-3653 is associated with HPV infection and to investigate the clinical value of miR-3653 in the diagnosis and prognosis of CC.

Methods

Tumor tissues and adjacent non-cancerous tissues were collected from 136 patients with CC. Cervical tissues from 101 patients with uterine fibroids were collected as controls. The expression of miR-3653 was measured by quantitative real-time PCR. The ability of miR-3653 to discriminate between HPV positive (HPV+) and HPV negative (HPV-) CC patients, and to discriminate patients from controls was assessed by receiver operating characteristic analysis. Kaplan–Meier curves and Log rank tests were used to evaluate the relationship of miR-3653 with survival of CC patient. Whether miR-3653 could function as a prognostic indicator was evaluated by univariate and multivariate Cox analyses.

Results

miR-3653, highly expressed in CC tissues, was associated with HPV infection, tumor diameter, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage and lymph node metastasis in CC patients. Additionally, miR-3653 was increased in HPV+ controls, CC patients and CC cells. Moreover, miR-3653 could screen HPV+ controls, screen HPV+ patients and screen CC patients. Furthermore, miR-3653 was associated with the survival of CC patients (log-rank P < 0.001) and could serve as an independent prognostic indicator for CC patients.

Conclusion

miR-3653, increased in CC, is related to HPV infection and may serve as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for CC patients.

Screening and Analysis of Biomarkers in the miRNA-mRNA Regulatory Network of Osteosarcoma

Osteosarcoma is a malignant disease, and few effective strategies can completely overcome the prognosis of these patients. This study attempted to reveal the key factors and related molecular mechanisms of osteosarcoma via excavating public microarray datasets. The data were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database; the differentially expressed miRNAs and differentially expressed genes were obtained in GSE69470 and GSE12685l, respectively; the target of miRNAs were predicted with the miRDIP database; the functions of the factors were analyzed and visualized by the David database and R language, respectively. Moreover, the protein-protein interaction network and miRNA-mRNA network were performed with the STRING database and Cytoscape software to identify the hub nodes in GSE69470 and GSE12685. The results showed that 834 DEGs were found in GSE12685 and 37 miRNAs were found in GSE69470. Moreover, the target of 37 miRNAs were enriched in PI3K/AKT, P53, Wnt/β-catenin, and TGF-β pathways and related with skeletal system development and cell growth. Besides, the miRNAs including miR-22-3p, miR-154-5p, miR-34a-5p, miR-485-3p, miR-93-5p, and miR-9-5p and the genes including LEF1, RUNX2, CSF1R, CDKN1A, and FBN1 were identified as the hub nodes via network analysis. In conclusion, this study suggested that the miRNAs including miR-22-3p, miR-154-5p, miR-34a-5p, miR-485-3p, miR-93-5p, and miR-9-5p and the genes including LEF1, RUNX2, CSF1R, CDKN1A, and FBN1 act as key factors in the progression of osteosarcoma.

Survival‑related DLEU1 is associated with HPV infection status and serves as a biomarker in HPV‑infected cervical cancer

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common risk factor for the occurrence of cervical cancer (CC). In recent years, the important roles of long non‑coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in CC have emerged, but studies on the relationship between lncRNAs and HPV‑positive (HPV+) CC remain scarce. The present study aimed to investigate whether lncRNA deleted in lymphocytic leukemia 1 (DLEU1) is associated with HPV infection and explore the clinical significance of DLEU1 in HPV+ patients with CC. DLEU1 expression was detected by reverse transcription‑quantitative PCR. The ability of DLEU1 to screen patients with CC from controls and differentiate individuals with different HPV infection status was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic analysis. The association of DLEU1 with the survival prognosis of patients with CC was assessed by Kaplan‑Meier survival analysis and Cox regression analysis. The RNA Interactome Database was used to predict molecules interacting with DLEU1. The results indicated that DLEU1 expression was significantly upregulated in CC tissues and cell lines, particularly in those that were HPV+. In addition, DLEU1 had a high diagnostic value in discriminating patients with CC and differentiating between HPV+ and HPV‑ patients with CC, and had a certain ability to screen HPV+ controls. DLEU1 was correlated with HPV infection in CC patients. Furthermore, DLEU1 was indicated to be associated with survival prognosis in both total patients with CC and HPV+ patients with CC, and independently predict the prognosis of patients with CC. Most of the molecules interacting with DLEU1 were microRNAs. In conclusion, abnormal DLEU1 expression is associated with HPV infection and may serve as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for HPV+ patients with CC.

RNA-based gene targeting therapies for human papillomavirus driven cancers

While platinum-based chemotherapy, radiation therapy and or surgery are effective in reducing human papillomavirus (HPV) driven cancer tumours, they have some significant drawbacks, including low specificity for tumour, toxicity, and severe adverse effects. Though current therapies for HPV-driven cancers are effective, severe late toxicity associated with current treatments contributes to the deterioration of patient quality of life. This warrants the need for novel therapies for HPV derived cancers. In this short review, we examined RNA-based therapies targeting the major HPV oncogenes, including short-interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) as putative treatment modalities. We also explore other potential RNA-based targeting approaches such as microRNAs (miRNAs), long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), and mRNA vaccines as future treatment modalities for HPV cancers. Some of these technologies have already been approved for clinical use for a range of other human diseases but not for HPV cancers. Here we explore the emerging evidence supporting the effectiveness of some of these gene-based therapies for HPV malignancies. In short, the evidence sheds promising light on the feasibility of translating these technologies into a clinically relevant treatment modality for HPV derived cancers and potentially other virally driven human cancers.

Lysine Acetyltransferase 2B predicts favorable prognosis and functions as anti-oncogene in cervical carcinoma

Lysine Acetyltransferase 2B (KAT2B) functions pivotally in regulating chromatin organization as well as function, and is a key regulator of signal transduction during development of many diseases, like tumors. This research intends to exploit expression, clinical significance as well as how KAT2B functions in cervical cancer. Our study showed that the KAT2B expression in cervical carcinoma tissues was inferior to that in normal tissues; decreased KAT2B expression was signally related to increased T staging, lymph node metastasis together with tissue differentiation; patients with high KAT2B expression had better prognosis. After knocking down KAT2B, cell proliferation diminished with decreased cell migration and invasion. Additionally, knocking down KAT2B made for increasing EMT-related proteins N-cadherin and Vimentin expression, while ZO-1 expression decreased; overexpression had the opposite effect. Dual luciferase analysis affirmed that miR-93-5p could in specifical bind to KAT2B, and thus reducing its expression and activity. KAT2B may be a new cervical tumor-suppressor gene, which is closely concerned with poor prognosis of patients, and under negative regulation by miR-93-5p.

MicroRNA panel in serum reveals novel diagnostic biomarkers for prostate cancer

Purpose

MicroRNAs (miRNAs), which could be stably preserved and detected in serum or plasma, could act as biomarkers in cancer diagnosis. Prostate cancer is the second cancer in males for incidence. This study aimed to establish a miRNA panel in peripheral serum which could act as a non-invasive biomarker helping diagnosing PC.

Methods

A total of 86 PC patients and 86 normal control serum samples were analyzed through a four-stage experimental process using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Logistic regression method was used to construct a diagnostic model based on the differentially expressed miRNAs in serum. Receiver operating characteristic curves were constructed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy. We also compared the 3-miRNA panel with previously reported biomarkers and verified in four public datasets. In addition, the expression characteristics of the identified miRNAs were further explored in tissue and serum exosomes samples.

Results

We identified a 3-miRNA signature including up-regulated miR-146a-5p, miR-24-3p and miR-93-5p for PC detection. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the 3-miRNA panel for the training, testing and external validation phase were 0.819, 0.831 and 0.814, respectively. The identified signature has a very stable diagnostic performance in the large cohorts of four public datasets. Compared with previously identified miRNA biomarkers, the 3-miRNA signature in this study has superior performance in diagnosing PC. What’s more, the expression level of miR-93-5p was also elevated in exosomes from PC samples. However, in PC tissues, none of the three miRNAs showed significantly dysregulated expression.

Conclusions

We established a three-miRNA panel (miR-146a-5p, miR-24-3p and miR-93-5p) in peripheral serum which could act as a non-invasive biomarker helping diagnosing PC.

Understanding the Molecular Mechanism of miR-877-3p Could Provide Potential Biomarkers and Therapeutic Targets in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Cervix

No therapeutic targets and molecular biomarkers are available in cervical cancer (CC) management. In other cancer types, micro-RNA-877-3p (miR-877-3p) has been associated with events relevant for CC development. Thus, we aimed to determine miR-877-3p role in CC. miR-877-3p levels were examined by quantitative-PCR in 117 cervical lesions and tumors. Effects on CC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were evaluated upon anti-miR-877-3p transfection. miR-877-3p dependent molecular mechanism was comprehensively explored by proteomics, dual-luciferase reporter assay, western blot, and immunohistochemistry. Cervical tumors expressed higher miR-877-3p levels than benign lesions. miR-877-3p promoted CC cell migration and invasion, at least partly by modulating cytoskeletal protein folding through the chaperonin-containing T-complex protein 1 complex. Notably, miR-877-3p silencing synergized with paclitaxel. Interestingly, miR-877-3p downregulated the levels of an in silico-predicted target, ZNF177, whose expression and subcellular location significantly distinguished high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSILs) and squamous cell carcinomas of the cervix (SCCCs). Cytoplasmic ZNF177 was significantly associated with worse progression-free survival in SCCC. Our results suggest that: (i) miR-877-3p is a potential therapeutic target whose inhibition improves paclitaxel effects; (ii) the expression and location of its target ZNF177 could be diagnostic biomarkers between HSIL and SCCC; and (iii) cytoplasmic ZNF177 is a poor-prognosis biomarker in SCCC.

Flaming the fight against cancer cells: the role of microRNA-93

There have been attempts to develop novel anti-tumor drugs in cancer therapy. Although satisfying results have been observed at a consequence of application of chemotherapeutic agents, the cancer cells are capable of making resistance into these agents. This has forced scientists into genetic manipulation as genetic alterations are responsible for generation of a high number of cancer cells. MicroRNAs (miRs) are endogenous, short non-coding RNAs that affect target genes at the post-transcriptional level. Increasing evidence reveals the potential role of miRs in regulation of biological processes including angiogenesis, metabolism, cell proliferation, cell division, and cell differentiation. Abnormal expression of miRs is associated with development of a number of pathologic events, particularly cancer. MiR-93 plays a significant role in both physiological and pathological mechanisms. At the present review, we show how this miR dually affects the proliferation and invasion of cancer cells. Besides, we elucidate the oncogenesis or oncosuppressor function of miR-93.

miR-145-5p Regulates the Proliferation, Migration and Invasion in Cervical Carcinoma by Targeting KLF5

Objective

Cervical carcinoma (CC) is a serious threat to women’s health and few effective therapeutic methods have been discovered. The purpose of this study is to explore the underlying mechanism of miR-145-5p in CC.

Methods

Bioinformatics methods were employed to analyze the gene expression data of CC from TCGA database. qRT-PCR was used to detect the expression of miR-145-5p and KLF5 in CC cells, and Western blot was employed for the examination of KLF5 protein level. The targeted relationship between miR-145-5p and KLF5 was verified by a dual-luciferase reporter assay. Moreover, CCK-8, wound healing assay and transwell invasion assay were used to analyze the effects of miR-145-5p overexpression or KLF5 silencing on the proliferation, migration and invasion of CC cells.

Results

miR-145-5p was shown to be down-regulated in CC tissues and cells, while KLF5 was up-regulated. miR-145-5p could bind to the complementary sequence within the wild type KLF5 3ʹUTR rather than the mutant one. In addition, miR-145-5p could effectively down-regulate KLF5, in turn inhibiting the proliferation, migration and invasion of CC cells.

Conclusion

miR-145-5p regulates the proliferation, migration and invasion of CC cells by targeting KLF5.

Circular RNA Circ-ITCH Inhibits the Malignant Behaviors of Cervical Cancer by microRNA-93-5p/FOXK2 Axis

Growing evidence has been demonstrated that circular RNA circ-ITCH plays an important role in the development of several cancers. However, the role of circ-ITCH in cervical cancer has not been evaluated. The aim of the present study was to investigate the biological function of circ-ITCH in cervical cancer both in vitro and in vivo. Our results showed that circ-ITCH was lowly expressed in both human cervical cancer tissues and cell lines. Overexpression of circ-ITCH in HeLa cells significantly suppressed cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. A xenograft tumor model was established to evaluate the role of circ-ITCH in vivo. The results showed that overexpression of circ-ITCH significantly inhibited tumorigenesis of cervical cancer. Mechanism investigations proved that circ-ITCH executed its tumor suppressive activity through sponging microRNA-93-5p (miR-93-5p) and regulating the expression of forkhead box K2 (FOXK2). These findings suggest that circ-ITCH may be a therapeutic target for the management of cervical cancer.

Retracted Article: Long non-coding RNA NEAT1 accelerates cell progression in cervical cancer by regulating the miR-889-3p/E2F7 axis through the activation of the PI3K/AKT pathway

Cervical cancer (CC) is a common malignant gynecological cancer that is frequently diagnosed in women.