Department of Histology, Embryology, and Applied Biology, University of Bologna, Italy.
Int J Immunopathol Pharmacol. 2010 Oct-Dec;23(4):1229-34. doi: 10.1177/039463201002300427.
Oral squamous cell carcinoma, the most frequently occurring malignant head and neck tumour, generally exhibits poor prognosis and metastases are the main cause of death. The discovery of reliable prognostic indicators of tumour progression could greatly improve clinical practice. MicroRNAs are involved in the regulation of basic cellular processes such as cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. Since miRNAs have been shown to be abnormally expressed in different tumours their importance as potential cancer prognostic indicators is increasing. To define the role of miRNA in OSCC tumours we investigated the expression profile of 15 OSCC (8 without metastasis and 7 with lymph node metastasis) using microarray analysis. Thirteen miRNA were significantly overexpressed (miR-489, miR-129, miR-23a, miR-214, miR-23b, miR-92, miR-25, miR-210, miR-212, miR-515, miR-146b, miR-21, miR-338) and 6 miRNA were underexpressed (miR-520h, miR-197, miR-378, miR-135b, miR-224, miR-34a) in oral tumours. Underexpression of mir-155, let-7i, mir-146a was found to characterize progression to metastastatic tumours. Further investigations will elucidate whether differentially expressed miRNAs will help to better classify OSCCs, thus improving diagnoses and patient care.
口腔鳞状细胞癌是最常见的头颈部恶性肿瘤，通常预后不良，转移是死亡的主要原因。发现可靠的肿瘤进展预后指标可以极大地改善临床实践。miRNAs 参与调节细胞增殖、分化和凋亡等基本细胞过程。由于在不同的肿瘤中已经显示出 miRNAs 的异常表达，因此它们作为潜在的癌症预后指标的重要性正在增加。为了确定 miRNA 在 OSCC 肿瘤中的作用，我们使用微阵列分析研究了 15 例 OSCC（8 例无转移，7 例有淋巴结转移）的表达谱。有 13 个 miRNA 显著过表达（miR-489、miR-129、miR-23a、miR-214、miR-23b、miR-92、miR-25、miR-210、miR-212、miR-515、miR-146b、miR-21、miR-338），6 个 miRNA 低表达（miR-520h、miR-197、miR-378、miR-135b、miR-224、miR-34a）在口腔肿瘤中。miR-155、let-7i、miR-146a 的低表达被认为是向转移性肿瘤进展的特征。进一步的研究将阐明差异表达的 miRNAs 是否有助于更好地对 OSCC 进行分类，从而改善诊断和患者护理。
