Project description:The introduction of miR-8073 into tumors could inhibit tumor growth, indicating its great potential as a therapeutic target for cancer.
Project description:The introduction of miR-8073 into tumors could inhibit tumor growth, indicating its great potential as a therapeutic target for cancer.
Project description:The comprehensive screening of intracellular and extracellular microRNAs was performed to identify novel tumor suppressors. We found that miR-8073 was present in exosome and predominantly exported from colorectal cancer cells. Treatment with a synthetic miR-8073 mimic resulted in a dramatic decrease in the proliferation of various types of cancer cells, which was not observed in similarly treated normal cells. As little is known about the biological functions of miR-8073, its target mRNAs were analyzed by both mRNA expression and in silico sequence analyses, leading to five probable target candidates (FOXM1, MBD3, CCND1, KLK10, and CASP2) that enhance survival during the regulation of the cell cycle, cell proliferation, and apoptosis. We experimentally confirmed that miR-8073 binds the 3'-UTR of each of these mRNA target candidates and that the introduction of a synthetic miR-8073 mimic into cancer cells reduced levels of protein expression. Finally, the antiproliferative effects of miR-8073 were validated in vivo: the subcutaneous injection of a synthetic miR-8073 mimic suppressed colorectal tumor volume to 43% in tumor-bearing xenografted mice. These results suggest that because miR-8073 binds, and thus reduces the levels of, these oncogenic targets, cancer cells must actively downregulate miR-8073 as a survival mechanism. The introduction of miR-8073 into tumors could thus inhibit tumor growth, indicating its great potential for cancer therapeutics.
Project description:Multiple Myeloma (MM) is a plasma cell tumor localized to the bone marrow (BM). Despite current progress in improving patient outcome, MM remains largely incurable. Disease clonal and interpatient heterogeneity has hampered identification of a common underlying mechanism for disease establishment and have slowed the development of novel targeted therapies. Epigenetic aberrations are now emerging as increasingly important in tumorigenesis, thus selective targeting of crucial epigenetic enzymes may provide new therapeutic potential in cancer including MM. Recently, we and others suggested the histone methyltransferase enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2), to be a potential therapeutic target in MM. Now we show that pharmacological inhibition of EZH2 suppresses the MM cell growth through downregulation of MM-associated oncogenes; IRF-4, XBP-1, PRDM1/BLIMP-1and c-MYC. We also show that downregulation of these genes is mediated via reactivated expression of microRNAs with tumor suppressor functions; primarily miR125a-3p and miR320c. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) we demonstrate that miR125a-3p and miR320c are targets of EZH2 and H3K27me3 in MM cell lines and primary MM cells. Our results further highlight the importance of polycomb-mediated silencing in MM to include microRNAs with tumor suppressor activity. This novel role further strengthens the oncogenic features of EZH2 and its potential as a therapeutic target in MM.
Project description:MicroRNA-34 (miR-34) has been reported to be dysregulated in various human cancers and regarded as a tumor suppressive microRNA because of its synergistic effect with the well-known tumor suppressor p53. Along with the application of MRX34, the first tumor-targeted microRNA drug which based on miR-34a mimics, on phase I clinical trial (NCT01829971), the significance of miR-34 is increasingly recognized. miR-34 plays a crucial role on repressing tumor progression by involving in epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) via EMT- transcription factors, p53 and some important signal pathways. Not only that, numerous preclinical researches revealed the giant potential of miR-34a on cancer therapy through diversiform nano-scaled delivery systems. Here, we provide an overview about the function of miR-34 in various cancers and the mechanism of miR-34 in tumor-associated EMT. Furthermore, its potential role as a microRNA therapeutic candidate is also discussed. Notwithstanding some obstacles existed, the extensive application prospect of miR-34 on oncotherapy cannot be neglected.