Project description:MiR-140 is selectively expressed in cartilage. Deletion of the entire miR-140 locus in mice results in a growth retardation phenotype and an early-onset osteoarthritis-like pathology, however the relative contribution of miR-140-5p or miR-140-3p to the phenotype remains to be determined. An unbiased small RNA sequencing approach identified that miR-140-3p was in vast abundance (>10-fold) to miR-140-5p in human cartilage. Analysis of these data identified multiple miR-140-3p isomiRs differing from the miRBase [1] annotation at both the 5´ and 3´ end, with >99% of miR-140-3p isomiRs having one of two ‘seed’ sequences (5´ bases 2-8). The most abundant isomiR with each seed were selected for further analysis; miR-140-3p.2 which has an identical seed to the miRBase miR-140-3p (ACCACAG) and miR-140-3p.1 which has an altered seed (CCACAGG), and thus different potential targets. Each isomiR was overexpressed in chondrocytes and whole-genome transcriptomics used to identify targets. miR-140-3p.1 and miR-140-3p.2 significantly down-regulated 694 and 238 genes respectively (adj.P.Val<0.05), of which only 162 genes were commonly down-regulated by both isomiRs. Targets of both isomiRs were validated using 3´UTR luciferase assays. A significant enrichment of miR-140-3p.1 targets was identified within genes whose expression increase in the rib chondrocytes of Mir140-null mice and within genes whose expression decreased during human chondrogenesis. Finally, through imputing the expression of miR-140 from the expression of the host gene WWP2 in 124 previously published datasets an inverse correlation with miR-140-3p.1 predicted targets was identified. Together these data suggest the novel seed containing isomiR miR-140-3p.1 is more functional than the original consensus miR-140-3p or the isomiR with the same seed, miR-140-3p.2.
Project description:MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression. Heterozygous loss-of-function point mutations of miRNA genes are associated with several human congenital disorders, but neomorphic (gain-of-new-function) mutations in miRNAs due to nucleotide substitutions have not been reported. Here we describe a neomorphic seed region mutation in the chondrocyte-specific, super-enhancer-associated MIR140 gene encoding microRNA-140 (miR-140) in a novel autosomal dominant human skeletal dysplasia. Mice with the corresponding single nucleotide substitution show skeletal abnormalities similar to those of the patients but distinct from those of miR-140-null mice. This mutant miRNA gene yields abundant mutant miR-140-5p expression without miRNA-processing defects. In chondrocytes, the mutation causes widespread derepression of wild-type miR-140-5p targets and repression of mutant miR-140-5p targets, indicating that the mutation produces both loss-of-function and gain-of-function effects. Furthermore, the mutant miR-140-5p seed competes with the conserved RNA-binding protein Ybx1 for overlapping binding sites. This finding may explain the potent target repression and robust in vivo effect by this mutant miRNA even in the absence of evolutionary selection of miRNA–target RNA interactions, which contributes to the strong regulatory effects of conserved miRNAs. Our study presents the first case of a pathogenic gain-of-function miRNA mutation and provides molecular insight into neomorphic actions of emerging and/or mutant miRNAs.
Project description:Analysis of HeLa S3 cells treated with 4 microM JBIR-140 (prethioviridamide) for 6 h. Results provide insight into the mode of action of JBIR-140. We examined the change in mRNA expression upon JBIR-140 treatment by DNA microarray.
Project description:Analysis of mouse chondrocytes lacking the microRNA-140. MicroRNAs are genomically encoded small RNAs to regulate the gene expression. miR-140 shows high expression in cartilage. Results provide insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying miR-140 function in chondrocytes. Keywords: Expression profiling by array
Project description:Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) leads to poor pregnancy outcomes and fetoplacental endothelial dysfunction; however, the underlying mechanisms are still unknown. This study aimed to investigate the effect of placenta-derived exosomal miRNAs on fetoplacental endothelial dysfunction in GDM, and to further explore the role of chemerin to this end. Placenta-derived exosomal miR-140-3p and miR-574-3p expression (next-generation sequencing, quantitative real-time PCR), its interactions with cell function (Cell Counting Kit-8, Transwell, tube formation assay), chemerin interactions (Western blotting), and placental inflammation (immunofluorescence staining, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) were investigated. Placenta-derived exosomal miR-140-3p and miR-574-3p were downregulated in GDM. Additionally, miR-140-3p and miR-574-3p inhibited the proliferation, migration, and tube formation ability of umbilical vein endothelial cells by targeting vascular endothelial growth factor. Interestingly, miR-140-3p and miR-574-3p expression levels were negatively correlated with chemerin, which induced placental inflammation through the recruitment of macrophage cells and release of IL-18 and IL-1β. These findings indicate that chemerin reduces placenta-derived exosomal miR-140-3p and miR-574-3p levels by inducing placental inflammation, thereby promoting the proliferation, migration, and tube formation of umbilical vein endothelial cells in GDM, providing a novel perspective on the underlying pathogenesis and therapeutic targets for GDM and its offspring complications.
Project description:Although cellular and molecular mechanisms during the course of bone healing have been thoroughly investigated, the regulation of gene expression by microRNA during bone regeneration is still poorly understood. We hypothesized that nonunion formation is associated with different microRNA expression patterns and that target proteins of these microRNAs are differently expressed in callus tissue of nonunions compared to physiologically healing bones. In a well-established femoral osteotomy model in CD-1 mice osteotomies were induced which result either in healing or in nonunion formation. MicroRNA and target protein expression was evaluated by microarray, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qrt-PCR) and Western blot. Microarray analyses demonstrated 44 microRNAs to be relevant for nonunion formation compared to physiological bone healing. In nonunions qrt-PCR could validate a higher expression of microRNA-140-3p and microRNA-140-5p. This was associated with a reduced expression of Dnpep and stromal cell-derived factor (SDF)-1α, which are both known to be target proteins of microRNA-140 and also to be involved in the process of bone healing. These data suggest that an increased expression of microRNA-140-3p and mi-croRNA-140-5p markedly contributes to the development of nonunions, most probably by affecting bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2 function during the early stage of healing due to a reduced SDF-1α expression.
Project description:miRNAs are small noncoding RNA molecules that play an important role in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Length and/or sequence variants of the same miRNA are termed isomiRs. While most isomiRs are functionally redundant compared to their canonical counterparts, so-called 5’isomiRs exhibit a shifted 5’ end and therefore a shifted seed sequence resulting in a different target spectrum. However, not much is known about the functional relevance of these isoforms. Analysis of miRNA-seq data from breast cancer cell lines identified six pairs of highly expressed miRNAs and associated 5’isomiRs. Among them, hsa-miR-140-3p was of particular interest because its 5’isomiR showed higher expression compared to the canonical miRNA annotated in miRbase. This miRNA has previously been shown to control stemness of breast cancer cells. MiRNAseq data of breast cancer patients (TCGA dataset) showed that both the canonical hsa-miR-140-3p and its 5’isomiR-140-3p were highly expressed in patients compared to normal breast tissue. In the current work, we present the functional characterization of 5’isomiR-140-3p and the cellular phenotypes associated with its overexpression in MCF10A and MDA-MB-231 cell lines in comparison to the canonical hsa-miR-140-3p. Contrary to the effect of the canonical hsa miR 140-3p, overexpression of the 5’isomiR-140-3p led to a decrease in cell viability. The latter observation was supported by cell cycle analysis, where the 5’isomiR-140-3p but not the hsa-miR-140-3p caused cell cycle arrest in G0/G1-phase. Additionally, 5’ismoiR-140-3p overexpression was found to cause a decrease in cell migration in MCF10A cells. We identified three novel direct target genes of the 5’ isomiR-140-3p; COL4A1, ITGA6 and MARCKSL1. Finally, we have shown that knocking down these genes partially phenocopied the effects of the 5’isomiR-140-4p overexpression, where COL4A1 and ITGA6 knockdown led to reduced cell viability and cell cycle arrest, while MARCKSL1 knockdown resulted in a decrease in the migratory potential of cells. In summary, this work presents evidence that there is a functional synergy between the canonical hsa-miR-140-3p and the newly identified 5’isomiR-140-3p in suppressing growth and progression of breast cancer by simultaneously targeting genes related to differentiation, proliferation, and migration. With this array, we aimed to address the question which genes are regulated by either of the two forms of the miRNA.