The anti-cancer role of microRNA-143 in papillary thyroid carcinoma by targeting high mobility group AT-hook 2

MicroRNA-143-5p Suppresses ER-Positive Breast Cancer Development by Targeting Oncogenic HMGA2

BACKGROUND

About 70%-80% of breast cancers (BCs) express estrogen receptors (ER-positive). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a group of small endogenous noncoding RNAs that play a critical regulatory role in cancer development and progression, including in BC. MiRNA deficiency promotes the development of BCs. MiR-143-5p is one of the most commonly dysregulated miRNAs in BC but its role as a tumor suppressor remains unclear.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

MiR-143-3p and -5p expression in breast tissue was analyzed using TCGA and StarBase databases. Expression in BC subclasses and survival analyses were conducted. Clinical samples were collected, cell cultures created, and gene expression assays performed following previous studies. Protein expression, luciferase reporter, wound healing, DAPI staining, cell cycle, colony formation, spheroid, CD44 FACS, and proliferation assays were conducted following various protocols.

RESULTS

Here, we find that both miR-143-3p and miR-143-5p levels are considerably lower in BC tissue compared to normal breast tissue and low miR-143 expression predicts poor prognosis in ER+ BC patients. In-depth analyses identified 3 miR-143-5p binding sites in the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of the DNA binding protein High Mobility Group AT-Hook 2 (HMGA2). Luciferase reporter assays using wild-type and mutant HMGA2 3'UTR sequences and Western blot analyses demonstrated that HMGA2 is a direct and bona fide miR-143-5p target in BC cells. In addition, we show that restoration of miR-143-5p expression suppresses metastasis-related features of ER+ BC cells, including reduced tumor cell migration, increased E-cadherin expression, and decreased vimentin and N-cadherin expression. Furthermore, miR-143-5p reduces cell proliferation, cell cycle entry, and stemness, while promoting apoptosis moderately. Finally, patient sample pathway analyses demonstrated that these mechanisms are also active in BC.

CONCLUSIONS

Altogether, our findings shed new light on miR-143-5p's anticancer biological functions in BC progression by directly targeting HMGA2. This suggests that restoration of miR-143-5p could be a promising new therapeutic approach for the treatment of ER+ BC.

HMGA2 regulation by miRNAs in cancer: affecting cancer hallmarks and therapy response

High mobility group A 2 (HMGA2) is a protein that modulates the structure of chromatin in the nucleus. Importantly, aberrant expression of HMGA2 occurs during carcinogenesis, and this protein is an upstream mediator of cancer hallmarks including evasion of apoptosis, proliferation, invasion, metastasis, and therapy resistance. HMGA2 targets critical signaling pathways such as Wnt/β-catenin and mTOR in cancer cells. Therefore, suppression of HMGA2 function notably decreases cancer progression and improves outcome in patients. As HMGA2 is mainly oncogenic, targeting expression by non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) is crucial to take into consideration since it affects HMGA2 function. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) belong to ncRNAs and are master regulators of vital cell processes, which affect all aspects of cancer hallmarks. Long ncRNAs (lncRNAs) and circular RNAs (circRNAs), other members of ncRNAs, are upstream mediators of miRNAs. The current review intends to discuss the importance of the miRNA/HMGA2 axis in modulation of various types of cancer, and mentions lncRNAs and circRNAs, which regulate this axis as upstream mediators. Finally, we discuss the effect of miRNAs and HMGA2 interactions on the response of cancer cells to therapy. Regarding the critical role of HMGA2 in regulation of critical signaling pathways in cancer cells, and considering the confirmed interaction between HMGA2 and one of the master regulators of cancer, miRNAs, targeting miRNA/HMGA2 axis in cancer therapy is promising and this could be the subject of future clinical trial experiments.

Modulatory role of miRNAs in thyroid and breast cancer progression and insights into their therapeutic manipulation

Over the past few decades, thyroid cancer has become one of the most common types of endocrine cancer, contributing to an increase in prevalence. In the year 2020, there were 586,202 newly diagnosed cases of thyroid cancer around the world. This constituted approximately 3.0% of all patients diagnosed with cancer. The World Health Organization reported that there will be 2.3 million women receiving treatment for breast cancer in 2020, with 685,000. Despite the fact that carcinoma is one of the world's leading causes of death, there is still a paucity of information about its biology. MicroRNAs (miRNAs; miRs) are non-coding RNAs that can reduce gene expression by cleaving the 3' untranslated regions of mRNA. These factors make them a potential protein translation inhibitor. Diverse biological mechanisms implicated in the genesis of cancer are modulated by miRNA. The investigation of global miRNA expression in cancer showed regulatory activity through up regulation and down-regulation in several cancers, including thyroid cancer and breast cancer. In thyroid cancer, miRNA influences several cancers related signaling pathways through modulating MAPK, PI3K, and the RAS pathway. In breast cancer, the regulatory activity of miRNA was played through the cyclin protein family, protein kinases and their inhibitors, and other growth promoters or suppressors, which modulated cell proliferation and cell cycle progression. This article's goal is to discuss key miRNA expressions that are involved in the development of thyroid and breast cancer as well as their therapeutic manipulation for these two specific cancer types.

MicroRNA-143 act as a tumor suppressor microRNA in human lung cancer cells by inhibiting cell proliferation, invasion, and migration

BACKGROUND/AIM

MicroRNAs play crucial roles in controlling cellular biological processes. miR-143 expression is usually downregulated in different cancers. In this study, we focused on exploring the role of miR143 in NSCLC development.

METHODS

Bioinformatics analyses were used to detect the expression level of miR-143 in lung tumors. The cells were transfected by pCMV-miR-143 vectors. The efficacy of transfection was verified by Flow cytometry. The influence of miR-143 replacement on NSCLC cells migration, proliferation, and apoptosis was detected using wound-healing assay, MTT assay, and DAPI staining, respectively.

RESULTS

MTT assay revealed that overexpression of miR143 inhibited cell growth and proliferation. Scratch assay results demonstrated that restoration of miR143 suppressed cell migration. The qRT-PCR assay was further used to detect the assumed relationship between miR143 and apoptotic and metastatic-related genes.

CONCLUSION

The findings showed that miR-143 could reduce cell proliferation, invasion, and migration by reducing CXCR4, Vimentin, MMP-1, Snail-1, C-myc expression level, and increasing E-cadherin expression levels in lung cancer cells and might be a potential target in NSCLC's targeted therapy.

SLC8A1 antisense RNA 1 suppresses papillary thyroid cancer malignant progression via the FUS RNA binding protein (FUS)/NUMB like endocytic adaptor protein (Numbl) axis

Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is one of the most prevalent endocrine malignancies and is associated with severe morbidity and high mortality. This study aimed to explore the role of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) SLC8A1 antisense RNA 1 (SLC8A1-AS1) in the pathogenesis of PTC. In this study, we explored the function of SLC8A1-AS1 in PTC progression. We observed that the expression of SLC8A1-AS1 was downregulated in clinical PTC samples and PTC cell lines compared to that in normal controls. Cell counting kit (CCK)-8 assays demonstrated that the overexpression of SLC8A1-AS1 significantly reduced the proliferation of PTC cells. Consistently, apoptosis of PTC cells was enhanced by SLC8A1-AS1 overexpression. SLC8A1-AS1 overexpression attenuated the invasion and migration of PTC cells. Mechanistically, SLC8A1-AS1 maintained NUMB like endocytic adaptor protein (Numbl) mRNA stability by interacting with FUS RNA Binding Protein (FUS) in PTC cells. Depletion of Numbl reversed the inhibitory effect of SLC8A1-AS1 overexpression on PTC. Thus, we concluded that SLC8A1-AS1 suppresses PTC progression via the FUS/Numbl axis. Our findings provide novel insights into the mechanism underlying SLC8A1-AS1 attenuation of the malignant development of PTC, improving our understanding of the association between lncRNAs and PTC. SLC8A1-AS1 and FUS may be potential targets for PTC treatment.

GATA binding protein 1 recruits histone deacetylase 2 to the promoter region of nuclear receptor binding protein 2 to affect the tumor microenvironment and malignancy of thyroid carcinoma

The tumor microenvironment (TME) and activated angiogenesis in thyroid carcinoma (TC) are critical for tumor growth and metastasis. Nuclear receptor binding protein 2 (NRBP2) has been suggested as a tumor suppressor. This study examines the function of NRBP2 in the progression of TC and the regulatory mechanism. By analyzing bioinformatic tools including GSE165724 dataset and the Cancer Genome Atlas system, we predicted NRBP2 as a poorly expressed gene in TC. Decreased NRBP2 expression was detected in TC tumor tissues and cells. Poor expression of NRBP2 was linked to unfavorable prognosis of patients. GATA binding protein 1 (GATA1) was found as a negative regulator of NRBP2. It recruited histone deacetylase2 (HDAC2) to the NRBP2 promoter to trigger histone deacetylation. NRBP2 overexpression suppressed growth of TC cells, and it reduced expression of TME markers, M2 polarization of macrophages, and angiogenesis in TC. Similar results were reproduced in vivo in nude mice. However, the anti-oncogenic roles of NRBP2 were blocked after further overexpression of GATA1 or HDAC2. In summary, this study demonstrates that GATA1 recruits HDAC2 to the NRBP2 promoter and enhances the TME and angiogenesis in TC cells.