Department of Maxillofacial Surgery and Implantology, Faculty of Dentistry, "Iuliu Hațieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Research Center for Functional Genomics, Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, "Iuliu Hațieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Genes (Basel). 2023 Feb 16;14(2):503. doi: 10.3390/genes14020503.
Non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) is one of the most frequent types of malignancy in the human body with an increasing incidence. Short, non-coding RNA molecules called microRNAs (miRNAs) can control post-transcriptional gene expression and they have a significant role in several physiological cellular processes and pathologies, including cancer. Depending on the functions of the genes, miRNAs may function as oncogenes or tumor suppressors. The aim of this paper was to describe the role of miRNA-34a and miRNA-221 in head and neck NMSC. Thirty-eight NMSC match paired (tumor and adjacent) tissue samples were evaluated by qRT-PCR. Total RNA was extracted and isolated from tissue samples using the phenol-chloroform (Trireagent) method according to the manufacturer's protocol. The concentration of RNA was measured by a NanoDrop-1000 spectrophotometer. The expression level of each miRNA was calculated by threshold cycle. For all statistical tests, the 0.05 significance level was used and two-tailed p values. All analyses were conducted in an R environment for statistical computing and graphics. We found the miRNA-221 being overexpressed in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) ( < 0.05), basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and basosquamous cell carcinoma (BSC) compared with adjacent normal tissue. Additionally, the levels of miRNA-221 were two times higher ( < 0.05) in cases where the excision of the tumor was done with positive margins (R1), which means that we are the first to highlight the potential role of miRNA-221 in the microscopical local invasion. Mi-RNA-34a expression was altered in the malignant tissue compared with the adjacent normal one both in BCC and SCC but not statistically significantly. In conclusion, NMSC are challenging because of their increasing incidence and rapidly evolving development and discovering their molecular mechanisms of action lead us to understand tumorigenesis and evolution, while also contributing to the implementation of novel therapeutic keys.
非黑色素瘤皮肤癌（NMSC）是人体中最常见的恶性肿瘤之一，发病率不断上升。短的非编码 RNA 分子称为 microRNA（miRNA），可以控制转录后基因表达，它们在许多生理细胞过程和病理学中，包括癌症中发挥着重要作用。根据基因的功能，miRNA 可以作为癌基因或肿瘤抑制因子。本文旨在描述 miRNA-34a 和 miRNA-221 在头颈部 NMSC 中的作用。通过 qRT-PCR 评估了 38 例 NMSC 配对（肿瘤和相邻）组织样本。根据制造商的方案，使用苯酚-氯仿（Trireagent）方法从组织样品中提取和分离总 RNA。通过 NanoDrop-1000 分光光度计测量 RNA 的浓度。通过阈值循环计算每个 miRNA 的表达水平。对于所有统计检验，使用 0.05 显著性水平和双尾 p 值。所有分析均在用于统计计算和图形的 R 环境中进行。我们发现 miRNA-221 在鳞状细胞癌（SCC）中过度表达（<0.05），与相邻正常组织相比，基底细胞癌（BCC）和基底鳞状细胞癌（BSC）。此外，当肿瘤切除边缘阳性（R1）时，miRNA-221 的水平高两倍（<0.05），这意味着我们首次强调了 miRNA-221 在显微镜下局部侵袭中的潜在作用。与相邻正常组织相比，miR-NA-34a 在恶性组织中的表达在 BCC 和 SCC 中均发生改变，但无统计学意义。总之，NMSC 具有挑战性，因为它们的发病率不断上升，发展迅速，发现其作用的分子机制使我们能够了解肿瘤发生和演变，同时也有助于实施新的治疗关键。
