Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in MIR143 Contribute to Protection Against Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) in Caucasian Populations

Tissue-Specific microRNA Expression Profiling to Derive Novel Biomarkers for the Diagnosis and Subtyping of Small B-Cell Lymphomas

Accurate diagnosis of the most common histological subtypes of small B-cell lymphomas is challenging due to overlapping morphological features and limitations of ancillary testing, which involves a large number of immunostains and molecular investigations. In addition, a common diagnostic challenge is to distinguish reactive lymphoid hyperplasia that do not require additional stains from such lymphomas that need ancillary investigations. We investigated if tissue-specific microRNA (miRNA) expression may provide potential biomarkers to improve the pathology diagnostic workflow. This study seeks to distinguish reactive lymphoid proliferation (RL) from small B-cell lymphomas, and to further distinguish the four main subtypes of small B-cell lymphomas. Two datasets were included: a discovery cohort (n = 100) to screen for differentially expressed miRNAs and a validation cohort (n = 282) to develop classification models. The models were evaluated for accuracy in subtype prediction. MiRNA gene set enrichment was also performed to identify differentially regulated pathways. 306 miRNAs were detected and quantified, resulting in 90-miRNA classification models from which smaller panels of miRNAs biomarkers with good accuracy were derived. Bioinformatic analysis revealed the upregulation of known and other potentially relevant signaling pathways in such lymphomas. In conclusion, this study suggests that miRNA expression profiling may serve as a promising tool to aid the diagnosis of common lymphoid lesions.

The rs41291957 polymorphism of miR-143/145 and cancer risk: a case-control study and meta-analysis

Recently, the rs41291957 polymorphism in the promoter region of miR-143/145 has been repeatedly investigated for its contribution to cancer susceptibility. However, the results remain conflicting rather than conclusive, which calls for further investigations. Therefore, we here conducted a case-control study and meta-analysis to explore the association between rs41291957 and cancer risk. In the case-control study, a total of 2277 cancer patients (lung, liver, gastric and colorectal cancers) and 800 normal controls were recruited, the genotyping of rs41291957 was performed with polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and Sanger sequencing. In the meta-analysis, 5 previously published studies and our present study were included, the STATA 14.0 software was applied to conduct all statistical analyses. The results of case-control study showed that rs41291957 was significantly associated with the risk of gastric cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer, and colorectal cancer in Hubei Han Chinese population. The results of meta-analysis demonstrated that rs41291957 was significantly associated with overall cancer risk, especially colorectal cancer risk and lung cancer risk. Collectively, the rs41291957 polymorphism of miR-143/145 may be a plausible susceptible locus for cancer risk, which should be validated in future studies with larger samples in different ethnic populations.

The Insulin-like Growth Factor System and Colorectal Cancer

Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are peptides which exert mitogenic, endocrine and cytokine activities. Together with their receptors, binding proteins and associated molecules, they participate in numerous pathophysiological processes, including cancer development. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a disease with high incidence and mortality rates worldwide, whose etiology usually represents a combination of the environmental and genetic factors. IGFs are most often increased in CRC, enabling excessive autocrine/paracrine stimulation of the cell growth. Overexpression or increased activation/accessibility of IGF receptors is a coinciding step which transmits IGF-related signals. A number of molecules and biochemical mechanisms exert modulatory effects shaping the final outcome of the IGF-stimulated processes, frequently leading to neoplastic transformation in the case of irreparable disbalance. The IGF system and related molecules and pathways which participate in the development of CRC are the focus of this review.

Functional Variants of miR-143 Are Associated with Schizophrenia Susceptibility: A Preliminary Population-Based Study and Bioinformatics Analysis

Single nucleotide polymorphisms within genes encoding microRNAs may alter the expression of microRNAs and their target genes, contributing to the etiology of psychiatric disorders. We aimed to investigate the link between rs4705342T/C and rs4705343T/C polymorphisms in the promoter region of miR-143 and the risk of schizophrenia (SCZ) in a sample of an Iranian population. In this experimental study, a total of 398 subjects were recruited. Genotyping carried out using allele-specific PCR (AS-PCR) method. Different bioinformatics databases and Cytoscape V3.4.0 software were used for the analysis of the gene-miRNA interaction network. The genotypic analysis of rs4705342C/T showed that CC genotype in the co-dominant model significantly decreased the risk of SCZ (p < 0.001). Also, a significantly reduced risk of SCZ was observed under allelic (p < 0.001), dominant (p = 0.007), and recessive (p = 0.001) models of this variant. As regards rs4705343T/C, significantly enhanced risk of SCZ was found under the co-dominant CC (p = 0.01) and recessive (p = 0.007) contrasted genetic models. For this variant, the C allele conferred an increased risk of SCZ by 1.41 fold. Haplotype analysis showed that the C_rs4705342 T_rs4705343 haplotype significantly diminished SCZ susceptibility. The result of the bioinformatics analysis showed that miR-143, as a critical miRNA, targets ERK5, ERBB3, HK2, and PKCε, the four major genes involved in SCZ development. Our findings suggest that these two polymorphisms might affect SCZ susceptibility. Elucidating the precise regulatory mechanisms of gene expression in the development of SCZ will help researchers discover a novel target for therapeutic interventions.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms affect miRNA target prediction in bovine

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) can have significant effects on phenotypic characteristics in cattle. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs that act as post-transcriptional regulators by binding them to target mRNAs. In the present study, we scanned ~56 million SNPs against 1,064 bovine miRNA sequences and analyzed, in silico, their possible effects on target binding prediction, primary miRNA formation, association with QTL regions and the evolutionary conservation for each SNP locus. Following target prediction, we show that 71.6% of miRNA predicted targets were altered as a consequence of SNPs located within the seed region of the mature miRNAs. Next, we identified variations in the Minimum Free Energy (MFE), which represents the capacity to alter molecule stability and, consequently, miRNA maturation. A total of 48.6% of the sequences analyzed showed values within those previously reported as sufficient to alter miRNA maturation. We have also found 131 SNPs in 46 miRNAs, with altered target prediction, occurring in QTL regions. Lastly, analysis of evolutionary conservation scores for each SNP locus suggested that they have a conserved biological function through the evolutionary process. Our results suggest that SNPs in microRNAs have the potential to affect bovine phenotypes and could be of great value for genetic improvement studies, as well as production.

Genetic Association Analysis Implicates Six MicroRNA-Related SNPs With Increased Risk of Breast Cancer in Australian Caucasian Women

INTRODUCTION

Breast cancer (BC), a heterogeneous disease, features microRNA-related single nucleotide polymorphisms (miRSNPs) as underlying factors of BC development, thus providing targets for novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. This study investigated miRSNPs in BC susceptibility in Australian Caucasian women.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The study population included patients 33 to 80 years of age stratified by molecular subtypes of breast tumors (luminal A, 47.59%), stage (stage I, 36.96%), tumor-type (ductal, 44.95%), grading (intermediate, 35.52%), size (10.1-25 mm, 31.14%), and lymph node (sentinel negative, 38.93%). Sixty-five miRSNPs underwent allelic analysis in two independent case-control cohorts (GU-CCQ-BB, 377 cases and 521 controls; GRC-BC, 267 cases and 201 controls) using a MassARRAY platform. GU-CCQ-BB, GRC-BC, and the combined populations (BC-CA) (644 cases and 722 controls) underwent independent statistical analysis.

RESULTS

In the GU-CCQ-BB population, miRSNPs TET2-rs7670522, ESR1-rs2046210, FGFR2-rs1219648, MIR210-rs1062099, HIF1A-rs2057482, and CASC16-rs4784227 were found to be associated with increased BC risk (P ≤ .05). Only ESR1-rs2046210 was also significantly associated (P ≤ .05) when replicated in the GRC-BC and BC-CA populations. No significant association was correlated with BC-clinical features (pathological types and ER/PR/HER2 status); however, MIR210-rs1062099 was found to be significantly associated (P ≤ .05) with age (>50 years) in the GU-CCQ-BB cohort.

CONCLUSION

This is the first study to demonstrate the association of MIR210-rs1062099 and TET2-rs7670522 with increased BC risk. Additionally, four previously reported SNPs (ESR1-rs2046210, FGFR2-rs1219648, HIF1A-rs2057482, and CASC16-rs4784227) were confirmed as BC risk variants. Replication and functional studies in larger Caucasian cohorts are necessary to elucidate the role of these miRSNPS in the development of BC.

Functional miR143/145 Cluster Variants and Haplotypes Are Associated with Chronic Kidney Disease: a Preliminary Case-Control Study and Computational Analyses

MiR-143/145 cluster is a novel transcriptional target of many signaling pathways, with variations within this cluster contributed to the risk of multiple diseases. To date, no data regarding the link between miR143/145 cluster polymorphisms and the risk of developing chronic kidney disease (CKD) has been reported. Hence, we aimed to examine such association in a population of Iranian ancestry. In this preliminary study, 276 CKD patients and 300 unrelated age and sex-matched healthy controls were recruited. Genotyping was performed by PCR-RFLP and allele-specific-PCR methods. Computational analyses were performed to predict the potential effects of the variants. Our findings indicated that rs41291957, rs12659504, and rs353292 polymorphisms were positively associated with CKD, while rs4705342 and rs4705343 polymorphisms demonstrated a significant negative association with the disease. Moreover, a significant association was observed between CC + TC and TT genotypes and CKD stages. We found that AACTT, AATTC, AATTT, GATTC, GATTT, and GGCTT haplotypes significantly enhanced the risk of CKD compared with the G_rs41291957AA_rs12659504C_rs353292T_rs4705342T_rs4705343 haplotype. Computational analysis showed that rs353292, rs4705342, and rs4705343 might alter the binding of the transcription factors in this gene cluster. We found that miR-143/145 cluster polymorphisms were associated with CKD risk in a sample of the Iranian population. Replicated studies on different ethnicities are necessary to investigate the association between these promoter variants and clinical outcomes.

Relationship between miR-143/145 cluster variations and cancer risk: proof from a Meta-analysis

Recent studies have suggested that single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in the miR-143/145 cluster might be linked to cancer risk. In this meta-analysis association study, we sought to quantitatively measure the strength of this association with cancer susceptibility in the overall analysis. Relevant publications were retrieved through a literature search in Web of Science, Medline, PubMed, Scopus, and Google scholar databases (updated January 22, 2020). Pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated under different genetic contrasted models. Our findings showed that rs4705341 (under allelic, codominant AA, dominant, and recessive), rs4705342 (under allelic, codominant TC, codominant CC, dominant, and recessive), and rs353292 (under allelic, codominant CT, and dominant) significantly decreased cancer risk. However, we did not find any association between the rs4705343, rs353293, rs3733845, and rs3733846 variants and cancer risk under any genetic models. The stratified analysis by cancer type showed that the rs41291957 and rs4705342 variants showed protective effects against colorectal- and prostate cancers, respectively. Our findings support the association between some miR-143/145 cluster variants and cancer risk. Replication large-scale studies on different races are encouraged to precisely delineate such associations.