Experimental identification of apoptosis-associated miR-21 target genes in Jurkat T-cells using a high-throughput experimental approach

ABSTRACT: MiR-21 is an important suppressor of T-cell apoptosis that is also widely overexpressed in many types of cancers. The exact mechanisms related to the anti-apoptotic effect of miR-21 is not well understood. In this study, we applied AGO2 RNA Immunoprecipitation followed by gene expression profiling (RIP-Chip) in Jurkat cells to identify apoptosis-associated miR-21 target genes. We showed that expression of miR-21 rapidly increases upon αCD3/αCD28 activation of Jurkat cells. Inhibition of miR-21 resulted in reduced cell growth and induced apoptosis. Upon AGO2-RIP-Chip, we observed an overall increased enrichment of miR-21 target genes in the IP fraction of miR-21-overexpressing Jurkat cells as compared to the IP fraction of empty vector control cells. We noted a systematic decrease in transcript levels of predicted miR-21 target genes compared to EV control. We identified 72 genes that were 2-fold enriched in the AGO2-IP fraction of miR-21-overexpressing cells that contained a predicted miR-21 binding site. Of these, 71 were enriched 2-fold more in the miR-21-overexpressing cells as compared to EV Jurkat cells. The target gene for which the enrichment was most prominently increased upon miR-21 overexpression was the pro-apoptotic protein LATS1. Luciferase reporter assays confirmed direct targeting of the LATS1 3'UTR by miR-21. In line with the luciferase results, Western blot analysis revealed a decrease in LATS1 upon miR-21 inhibition. LATS1 qRT-PCR analysis in primary T-cells showed that LATS1 levels decrease upon T-cell stimulation while the miR-21 levels increase. Collectively, these data identify the miR-21 target LATS1 as a likely candidate whose inhibition contributes to the anti-apoptotic function of miR-21 in T-cells and perhaps also many types of cancers.

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE85116 | GEO | 2016/08/03

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA336226

REPOSITORIES: GEO