Concomitant Up-Regulation of and Down-Regulation of Its Targets, and , in Tissue Samples of Colorectal Cancer.

BACKGROUND

The -pathway is involved in several cancers, including colorectal cancer (CRC). Many cell signaling components and pathways are controlled by microRNAs. The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the expression of , and its two target genes of the -pathway in CRC clinical samples.

METHODS

In this study, we predicted the miRNAs targeting key genes of -pathway using bioinformatics algorithms. The expression levels of -374, and on 48 pairs of Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded (FFPE) CRC tumors and marginal-tumors were evaluated using real time-PCR. Additionally, the precursor sequence was amplified by whole-blood DNA as a template. This amplicon was cloned into pEGFP-c1 expression vector and transfected into SW742 cells. Aside from this, MTT assay was performed to evaluate the effect of on cell viability.

RESULTS

The bioinformatics analysis indicated that -374 binds to the regulatory region the key components of -pathway, including and considering the recognition elements and mirSVR scores. Our results revealed significant down-regulation of (0.94 times, p= 0.0098) and (0.96 times, p= 0.03) and up-regulation of -374 (1.22 times, p= 0.0071) on tumor samples compared with their normal pairs. Meanwhile, the results of the over-expression of miR-374 showed down-regulation of and . MTT-assay also indicated that the increased cell survival.

CONCLUSION

The results of our study indicated a concomitant change in the expression of and its two related target genes, in clinical samples of CRC. -374 might be as a helpful biomarker or therapeutic target in CRC.