MiR-1224 Acts as a Prognostic Biomarker and Inhibits the Progression of Gastric Cancer by Targeting SATB1

Joint global and local interpretation method for CIN status classification in breast cancer

Breast cancer is among the cancer types with the highest numbers of new cases. The study of this disease from a microscopic perspective has been a prominent research topic. Previous studies have shown that microRNAs (miRNAs) are closely linked to chromosomal instability (CIN). Correctly predicting CIN status from miRNAs can help to improve the survival of breast cancer patients. In this study, a joint global and local interpretation method called GL_XGBoost is proposed for predicting CIN status in breast cancer. GL_XGBoost integrates the eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) and SHapley Additive exPlanation (SHAP) methods. XGBoost is used to predict CIN status from miRNA data, whereas SHAP is used to select miRNA features that have strong relationships with CIN. Furthermore, SHAP's rich visualization strategies enhance the interpretability of the entire model at the global and local levels. The performance of GL_XGBoost is validated on the TCGA-BRCA dataset, and it is shown to have an accuracy of 78.57% and an area under the curve value of 0.87. Rich visual analysis is used to explain the relationships between miRNAs and CIN status from different perspectives. Our study demonstrates an intuitive way of exploring the relationship between CIN and cancer from a microscopic perspective.

Regulation of the migration of colorectal cancer stem cells via the TLR4/MyD88 signaling pathway by the novel surface marker CD14 following LPS stimulation

Cell surface markers are most widely used in the study of cancer stem cells (CSCs). However, cell surface markers that are safely and stably expressed in CSCs have yet to be identified. Colonic CSCs express leukocyte CD14. CD14 binding to the ligand lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is involved in the inflammatory response via the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88) signaling pathway. TLR4 and MyD88 have been reported to promote the proliferation, metastasis and tumorigenicity of colon cancer cells, which is consistent with the characteristics of CSCs. In the present study, the proposed experimental method to detect cell proliferation, metastasis and tumorigenesis was used to confirm that, under LPS stimulation, CD14 promoted the proliferation, migration and tumorigenesis of colonic CSCs via the TLR4/MyD88 signaling pathway. Cell Counting Kit-8 and 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine assays were used to assess the proliferation and migration of the cells. Colony formation and nude mouse xenograft assays were used to assess the capacity of cells to form tumors. Using western blotting and reverse transcription-quantitative PCR, the mRNA and protein levels of CD14, TLR4 and MyD88 were examined. It was confirmed that CD14 promoted the proliferation, metastasis and tumorigenesis of colon CSCs in response to LPS stimulation via the TLR4/MyD88 signaling pathway, and CD14+ colon cancer cells were successfully isolated and sorted. According to the results of proliferation assay, it was determined that CD14 regulated the LPS-induced proliferation of colon CSCs. CD14, TLR4 and MyD88 protein and mRNA expression was upregulated in colon CSCs in response to LPS stimulation. This indicates a potential novel target for colon CSC-related studies.

Identification of miRNA-mRNA regulatory network associated with the glutamatergic system in post-traumatic epilepsy rats

Background

Glutamate is one of the most important excitatory neurotransmitters in the mammalian brain and is involved in a variety of neurological disorders. Increasing evidence also shows that microRNA (miRNA) and mRNA pairs are engaged in a variety of pathophysiological processes. However, the miRNA and mRNA pairs that affect the glutamatergic system in post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE) remain unknown.

Methods

PTE rats were induced by injecting 0.1 mol/L, 1 μL/min FeCl₂ solution. Behavioral scores and EEG monitoring were used to evaluate whether PTE was successfully induced. RNA-seq was used to obtain mRNA and miRNA expression profiles. Bioinformatics analysis was performed to screen differentially expressed mRNAs and miRNAs associated with the glutamatergic system and then predict miRNA-mRNA interaction pairs. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR was used to further validate the expression of the differential miRNAs and mRNAs. The microRNA-mRNA was subject to the Pearson correlation analysis.

Results

Eight of the 91 differentially expressed mRNAs were associated with the glutamatergic system, of which six were upregulated and two were downregulated. Forty miRNAs were significantly differentially expressed, with 14 upregulated and 26 downregulated genes. The predicted miRNA-mRNA interaction network shows that five of the eight differentially expressed mRNAs associated with the glutamatergic system were targeted by multiple miRNAs, including Slc17a6, Mef2c, Fyn, Slc25a22, and Shank2, while the remaining three mRNAs were not targeted by any miRNAs. Of the 40 differentially expressed miRNAs, seven miRNAs were found to have multiple target mRNAs associated with the glutamatergic system. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR validation and Pearson correlation analysis were performed on these seven targeted miRNAs-Slc17a6, Mef2c, Fyn, Slc25a22, and Shank2-and six additional miRNAs selected from the literature. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR showed that the expression levels of the mRNAs and miRNAs agreed with the predictions in the study. Among them, the miR-98-5p-Slc17a6, miR-335-5p-Slc17a6, miR-30e-5p-Slc17a6, miR-1224-Slc25a22, and miR-211-5p-Slc25a22 pairs were verified to have negative correlations.

Conclusions

Our results indicate that miRNA-mRNA interaction pairs associated with the glutamatergic system are involved in the development of PTE and have potential as diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for PTE.

The Role and Mechanism of microRNA-1224 in Human Cancer

microRNAs (miRNAs) are a type of small endogenous non-coding RNAs composed of 20-22 nucleotides, which can regulate the expression of a gene by targeting 3’ untranslated region (3’-UTR) of mRNA. Many studies have reported that miRNAs are involved in the occurrence and progression of human diseases, including malignant tumors. miR-1224 plays significant roles in different tumors, including tumor proliferation, metastasis, invasion, angiogenesis, biological metabolism, and drug resistance. Mostly, it serves as a tumor suppressor. With accumulating proofs of miR-1224, it can act as a potential bio-indicator in the diagnosis and prognosis of patients with cancer. In this article, we review the characteristics and research progress of miR-1224 and emphasize the regulation and function of miR-1224 in different cancer. Furthermore, we conclude the clinical implications of miR-1224. This review may provide new horizons for deeply understanding the role of miR-1224 as biomarkers and therapeutic targets in human cancer.