miR-130a和miR-125b在川崎病外周血细胞中的表达及意义

目的 通过检测miR-130a 和miR-125b 在伴或不伴冠脉扩张（CAD）川崎病（KD）患儿与正常健康儿童外周血单核细胞（PBMC）中的表达差异，探讨两者可否作为KD 和CAD诊断及预后评估的全新血清生物标志物。方法 利用基因芯片技术筛选出KD 患儿与正常健康儿童之前具有差异表达的miRNAs，通过生物信息学分析，确定候选基因。进一步选取KD 患儿30 例（伴或不伴CAD 各15 例）、正常健康儿童15 例，采用茎环RT-PCR 的方法，验证候选基因miR-130a 和miR-125b 在PBMC 中的表达情况。结果 （1）通过基因芯片技术，分析KD 患儿与正常健康儿童PBMC 中存在明显差异表达的miRNA 共63 条，经过生物信息学分析，确定候选基因；（2）通过茎环RT-PCR 验证发现miR-130a 和miR-125b 在患儿IVIG 治疗前表达明显下调，而IVIG治疗后表达明显上调（P＜0.05）；（3）伴CAD 的KD 患儿miR-130a 及miR-125b 表达较不伴CAD 明显升高，且呈正相关性（R2 =0.734，mir-130a；R2 =0.709，miR-125b）；（4）ROC 曲线分析表明miR-130a（特异度87.5%和敏感度77.5%）和miR-125b（特异度83.3%和敏感度76.6%）对KD 及CAD 的判断有较高的特异度和敏感度。结论 PBMC 中的miR-130a 和miR-125b 参与了KD的发生与发展，可作为KD 及CAD诊断及预后评估的一项全新血清生物标志物，并为KD冠脉扩张的防治提供新的思路。     

微小RNA在人类压疮组织中的异常表达

目的建立人类压疮组织微小RNA表达谱。方法收集本院24例压疮组织临床样本,选取其中4例用于压疮微小RNA芯片制备。采用生物信息学算法比较压疮组织与正常组织中差异表达的微小RNA,获得压疮微小RNA表达谱。进一步利用20例测试样本,采用实时荧光定量-逆转录-聚合酶链反应对所鉴定的表达谱进行验证。结果获得了12个差异表达的微小RNA,其中包括5个表达水平上调和7个表达水平下调的微小RNA,其中表达水平下调的miR-17差异表达水平最显著。结论作者建立了一组由12个微小RNA组成的压疮组织微小RNA表达谱,为压疮发生及发展分子调控机制研究提供了丰富的素材。     

Association between microRNA polymorphisms and papillary thyroid cancer susceptibility

Objectives: Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is the most common subtype of thyroid cancer, which accounts for 80-90% of all thyroid cancer cases. Though the pathological mechanism hasn’t been fully understood, it is reported that both environmental and genetic factor may contribute to the PTC susceptibility. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA molecules which function as the suppressors to participate in a variety of biological processes. Accumulating evidence suggests that polymorphisms of miRNAs were associated with the tumorigenesis of various cancers, including PTC. In this article, we focus on the association between four common microRNA polymorphisms (miR-146a, miR-608, miR-933, and miR-149) and PTC risk in a Han Chinese population. Methods: In this case-control study, we recruited 1,398 participants in total, including 369 PTC patients, 278 patients with thyroid benign nodules (BN) and 751 normal controls. The miRNAs polymorphisms were genotyped and analyzed by using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. The odd ratios and their 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were calculated to evaluate the association between miRNAs polymorphisms and PTC risk. Furthermore, a meta-analysis based on previous studies was conducted to comprehensively assess the diagnostic performance of miR-146a in the PTC diagnosis. Results: The miR-146a polymorphisms were shown to be significantly correlated with elevated risk of PTC under the heterozygous, homozygous, dominant and allelic models by comparing the genotype distribution between PTC cases and healthy controls, as well as between PTC cases and BN cases. However, the result of meta-analysis showed no significant association between miR-146a polymorphisms and PTC risk. Conclusions: Our study indicated that the miR-146a polymorphism was significantly associated with PTC risk. In contrast, meta-analysis revealed no evidence of association between miR-146a variants and PTC risk. Further studies are required to elucidate the role of miR-146a in the etiology of PTC.     

microRNA-622 acts as a tumor suppressor in hepatocellular carcinoma

microRNAs (miRNAs) are important regulators of tumor development and progression. In this study, we aimed to explore the expression and role of miR-622 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We found that miR-622 was significantly downregulated in human HCC specimens compared to adjacent noncancerous liver tissues. miR-622 downregulation was significantly associated with aggressive parameters and poor prognosis in HCC. Enforced expression of miR-622 significantly decreased the proliferation and colony formation and induced apoptosis of HCC cells. In vivo studies demonstrated that miR-622 overexpression retarded the growth of HCC xenograft tumors. Bioinformatic analysis and luciferase reporter assays revealed that miR-622 directly targeted the 3′-untranslated region (UTR) of mitogen-activated protein 4 kinase 4 (MAP4K4) mRNA. Ectopic expression of miR-622 led to a significant reduction of MAP4K4 expression in HCC cells and xenograft tumors. Overexpression of MAP4K4 partially restored cell proliferation and colony formation and reversed the induction of apoptosis in miR-622-overexpressing HCC cells. Inhibition of JNK and NF-κB signaling phenocopied the anticancer effects of miR-622 on HCC cells. Taken together, miR-622 acts as a tumor suppressor in HCC and restoration of miR-622 may provide therapeutic benefits in the treatment of HCC.     

MiR-302c-3p suppresses invasion and proliferation of glioma cells via down-regulating metadherin (MTDH) expression

Glioma is the most common malignant brain tumors with poor prognosis. The molecular events involved in the development and progression of glioma remain unclear. In this study, the expression levels of miR-302c-3p were examined in glioma tissues by qRT-PCR. The in vitro and in vivo functional effects of miR-302c-3p were examined further. Luciferase reporter assays were conducted to confirm the targeting associations. Results showed that the expression level of miR-302c-3p in glioma tissues was significantly lower than those in normal brain tissues (P < 0.001). The decreased expression of mi-302c-3p in glioma was positively associated with WHO grade (P < 0.001). Up-regulation of MTDH was also detected in glioma tumors compared with normal brain tissues (P = 0.0027) and is inversely correlated with miR-302c-3p expression (P = 0.003, R² = 0.4065). MTDH mRNA is a direct target of miR-302c-3p, whose ectopic expression decreases MTDH expression through binding to its 3′-untranslated region. Overexpression of miR-302c-3p results in a dramatic inhibition of glioma cells proliferation and invasion in vitro and in vivo. These data suggest that miR-302c-3p play a pivotal role in the progression of glioma by targeting MTDH and is a potential inhibitor in glioma treatment.     

miRNA在前列腺癌中的研究进展

前列腺癌(PCa)是男性泌尿系最常见的恶性肿瘤之一,微小RNA(miRNA)是一类内源性的非编码小RNA,研究发现miRNA与PCa的发生和发展密切相关,多种miRNA在PCa中表达异常。本文通过描述miRNA在PCa中表达差异及其与预后的相关性,进一步分析miRNA与放化疗、雄激素受体,以及PCa转移的相关性,来阐明miRNA在PCa发生发展中的的作用。