Correlation of miR-600 with WT1 expression and its potential clinical significance in breast cancer

MiR-600 mediates EZH2/RUNX3 signal axis to modulate breast cancer cell viability and sorafenib sensitivity

Breast cancer (BC) ranks as the most prevalent gynecologic tumor globally. Abnormal expression of miRNAs is concerned with the development of cancers such as BC. However, little is known about the role of miR-600 in BC. This work aimed to explore the role of miR-600 in the malignant progression and sorafenib sensitivity of BC cells. Expression and interaction of miR-600/EZH2/RUNX3 were analyzed by bioinformatics. qRT-PCR was utilized to assay RNA expression of miR-600 and mRNA expression of EZH2/RUNX3. The binding relationship between miR-600 and EZH2 was tested by dual luciferase assay and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP). The effects of miR-600/EZH2/RUNX3 axis on the malignant behavior and sorafenib sensitivity of BC cells were detected by CCK-8 and colony formation assay. Low expression of miR-600 and RUNX3 in BC was found by bioinformatics and molecular assays. High expression of EZH2 in BC was negatively correlated with RUVX3. Dual luciferase assay and RIP demonstrated that MiR-600 could bind to EZH2. Cell assays displayed that miR-600 knockdown could foster the malignant progression of BC cells and reduce the sensitivity of BC cells to sorafenib. EZH2 knockdown or RUNX3 overexpression could offset the effect of miR-600 inhibitor on the malignant behavior and sorafenib sensitivity of BC cells. MiR-600 can hinder the malignant behavior of BC cells and foster sensitivity of BC cells to sorafenib via EZH2/RUNX3 axis, exhibiting the miR-600/EZH2/RUNX3 axis as a feasible therapeutic target for BC patients.

Identification of Driver Genes and miRNAs in Ovarian Cancer through an Integrated In-Silico Approach

Ovarian cancer is the eighth-most common cancer in women and has the highest rate of death among all gynecological malignancies in the Western world. Increasing evidence shows that miRNAs are connected to the progression of ovarian cancer. In the current study, we focus on the identification of miRNA and its associated genes that are responsible for the early prognosis of patients with ovarian cancer. The microarray dataset GSE119055 used in this study was retrieved via the publicly available GEO database by NCBI for the analysis of DEGs. The miRNA GSE119055 dataset includes six ovarian carcinoma samples along with three healthy/primary samples. In our study, DEM analysis of ovarian carcinoma and healthy subjects was performed using R Software to transform and normalize all transcriptomic data along with packages from Bioconductor. Results: We identified miRNA and its associated hub genes from the samples of ovarian cancer. We discovered the top five upregulated miRNAs (hsa-miR-130b-3p, hsa-miR-18a-5p, hsa-miR-182-5p, hsa-miR-187-3p, and hsa-miR-378a-3p) and the top five downregulated miRNAs (hsa-miR-501-3p, hsa-miR-4324, hsa-miR-500a-3p, hsa-miR-1271-5p, and hsa-miR-660-5p) from the network and their associated genes, which include seven common genes (SCN2A, BCL2, MAF, ZNF532, CADM1, ELAVL2, and ESRRG) that were considered hub genes for the downregulated network. Similarly, for upregulated miRNAs we found two hub genes (PRKACB and TAOK1).

Investigation of miR-133a, miR-637 and miR-944 genes expression and their relationship with PI3K/AKT signaling in women with breast cancer

PURPOSE

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are regulatory molecules capable of positively or negatively regulating signaling pathways, and are involved in tumorigenesis as well as various aspects of cancer. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression levels of miR-133a, miR-637, and miR-944 in serum and tumor tissues as well as their relationship with the expression level of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) and protein kinase-B (AKT) genes and proteins along with their clinical significance in breast cancer.

METHODS

The expressions of miR-133a, miR-637, miR-944, PI3K, and AKT genes were examined in the tumor and tumor margin tissues of 40 patients with breast cancer, as well as the serum levels of miR-133a, miR-637, and miR-944 in these patients and 40 healthy groups by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). PI3K and AKT proteins expression in tumor and tumor margin tissues were detected using immunohistochemistry (IHC).

RESULTS

The expression levels of miR-133a and miR-637 in the tumor tissue and serum of patients were lower than those in the tumor margin tissue and serum of the healthy group, respectively. In addition, the expression level of miR-944 in the tumor tissue was lower than that in the tumor margin tissue, but its expression increased in the serum of cancer patients compared to that in the healthy group. The expression of miR-637 was correlated with tumor location and Her2 receptors, and the expression of miR-944 was correlated with tumor location and family history. PI3K and AKT mRNA and protein levels were higher in the tumor tissues than in the tumor margin tissues (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The results of our study revealed that miR-637 has a better diagnostic value in breast cancer than miR-133a and miR-944.

miR-600 promotes ovarian cancer cells stemness, proliferation and metastasis via targeting KLF9

Previous studies have revealed that miRNAs participate in the pathogenesis of ovarian cancer; however, whether miR-600 is also involved remains unclear. In this study, we aimed to investigated the role of miR-600 in ovarian cancer progression. Here, miR-600 expression was significantly upregulated in ovarian cancer tissues and stem cells. Functional studies showed that miR-600 promoted ovarian cancer cell stemness, proliferation and metastasis. Mechanistic studies revealed that Kruppel like factor 9 (KLF9) was indicated as the target of miR-600. The luciferase reporter assay suggested that miR-600 directly bound to the 3'-untranslated region of KLF9. Additionally, miR-600 expression was negatively associated with KLF9 expression in human ovarian cancer tissues. Si-KLF9 partially abolished the discrepancy of self-renewal, growth and metastasis capacity between miR-600 knockdown ovarian cancer cells and control cells. In conclusion, our results suggest that miR-600 promotes ovarian cancer cell stemness, proliferation and metastasis via directly downregulating KLF9, and impairing miR-600 levels may be a new treatment strategy for ovarian cancer in the future.

New insight towards development of paclitaxel and docetaxel resistance in cancer cells: EMT as a novel molecular mechanism and therapeutic possibilities

Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) mechanism is responsible for metastasis and migration of cancer cells to neighboring cells and tissues. Morphologically, epithelial cells are transformed to mesenchymal cells, and at molecular level, E-cadherin undergoes down-regulation, while an increase occurs in N-cadherin and vimentin levels. Increasing evidence demonstrates role of EMT in mediating drug resistance of cancer cells. On the other hand, paclitaxel (PTX) and docetaxel (DTX) are two chemotherapeutic agents belonging to taxene family, capable of inducing cell cycle arrest in cancer cells via preventing microtubule depolymerization. Aggressive behavior of cancer cells resulted from EMT-mediated metastasis can lead to PTX and DTX resistance. Upstream mediators of EMT such as ZEB1/2, TGF-β, microRNAs, and so on are involved in regulating response of cancer cells to PTX and DTX. Tumor-suppressing factors inhibit EMT to promote PTX and DTX sensitivity of cancer cells. Furthermore, three different strategies including using anti-tumor compounds, gene therapy and delivery systems have been developed for suppressing EMT, and enhancing cytotoxicity of PTX and DTX against cancer cells that are mechanistically discussed in the current review.