Project description:The invasion front of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) harbors the most aggressive cells of the tumor and is critical for cancer invasion and metastasis. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in regulating OSCC invasion. In this study, we modeled the OSCC invasion front on a microfluidic chip and investigated differences in miRNA profiles between cells in the invasion front and those in the tumor mass by small RNA sequencing and bioinformatic analysis. We found that miR-218-5p was downregulated in invasion front cells; a luciferase reporter assay confirmed that cluster of differentiation (CD)44 was a direct target of miR-218-5p. Inhibiting miR-218-5p in invasion front cells activated CD44- Rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK) signaling and promoted cell invasion by inducing cytoskeletal reorganization. These findings indicate that miR-218-5p negatively regulates OSCC invasiveness by targeting the CD44–ROCK pathway and may be a useful therapeutic target for OSCC. Moreover, our method of modeling and isolating invasion front cells using a microfluidic chip is a time-saving alternative to in vivo models.
Project description:Aberrant expression of oncomicroRNAs and tumor suppressor miRNAs (tsmiRs) contributes to the carcinogenesis and progression of cervical cancer (CC). miR-124-3p, miR-23b-3p, and miR-218-5p are tsmiRs that modulate oncogenes regulating cellular processes implicated in CC progression. This research aimed to explore transcriptomic changes in C-33A and CaSki cells following the overexpression of miR-124-3p, miR-23b-3p, and miR-218-5p, and to identify the biological processes (BPs) and pathways modulated by differentially expressed genes (DEGs). A total of 100 nM of miR-124-3p, miR-23b-3p, and miR-218-5p mimetics were transfected into C-33A and CaSki cells, and transcriptome changes were analyzed using RNA-seq. The Galaxy and R-Studio platforms were employed to identify DEGs, while BPs and pathways regulated by DEGs were identified through the DAVID platform. Transcriptional changes revealed both differences and similarities between cell lines and miRNAs. In C-33A cells, miR-124-3p and miR-218 regulated direct and indirect targets involved in the cell cycle and apoptosis. In CaSki cells, apoptosis and viral carcinogenesis were regulated by genes modulated directly or indirectly by miR-124-3p and miR-23b-3p. These tsmiRs demonstrated synergistic activity, regulating multiple transcripts that modulate processes and pathways involved in CC progression, with or without HPV. These findings suggest that miR-124-3p, miR-23b-3p, and miR-218-5p may represent promising therapeutic alternatives for CC treatment.
Project description:Objective: Fibroblast-like synovial cells (FLS) have multilineage differentiation potential including osteoblasts. We aimed to investigate the role of microRNAs during the osteogenic differentiation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-FLS. Methods: MicroRNA(miRNA) array analysis was performed to investigate the differentially expressed miRNAs during the osteogenic differentiation. Expression of miR-218-5p (miR-218) during the osteogenic differentiation was determined by quantitative real-time PCR. Transfection with miR-218 precursor and inhibitor were used to confirm the targets of miR-218 and to analyse the ability of miR-218 to induce osteogenic differentiation. Results: The miRNA array revealed that 12 miRNAs were up-regulated and 24 miRNAs were down-regulated after osteogenic differentiation. We observed that miR-218 rose in the early phase of osteogenic differentiation and then decreased. Micro array analysis revealed the mir-218 modulate the expression of ROBO1 in RA-FLS. The induction of miR-218 in RA-FLS decreased ROBO1 expression, and promoted osteogenic differentiation.
Project description:The assembly of the mammalian brain is orchestrated by temporally coordinated waves of gene expression. Post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression by microRNAs (miRNAs) is a key aspect of this program. Indeed, deletion of neuron-enriched miRNAs induces strong developmental phenotypes, and miRNA levels are altered in patients with neurodevelopmental disorders. However, the mechanisms used by miRNAs to instruct brain development remain largely unexplored. Here, we identified miR-218 as a critical regulator of hippocampal assembly. MiR-218 is highly expressed in the hippocampus and enriched in both excitatory principal neurons (PNs) and GABAergic inhibitory interneurons (INs). Early life inhibition of miR-218 results in an adult brain with a predisposition to seizures. Changes in gene expression in the absence of miR-218 suggest that network assembly is impaired. Indeed, we find that miR-218 inhibition results in the disruption of early depolarizing GABAergic signaling, structural defects in dendritic spines, and altered intrinsic membrane excitability. Conditional knockout of miR-218 in INs, but not PNs, is sufficient to recapitulate long-term instability. Finally, de-repressing Kif21b and Syt13, two miR-218 targets, phenocopies the effects on early synchronous network activity induced by miR-218 inhibition. Taken together, the data suggest that miR-218 orchestrates formative events in PNs and INs to produce stable networks.
Project description:Motor-neuron specific microRNA-218 (miR-218) was recently put in the spotlight because of its striking roles in mouse development. However, miR-218 relevance to human motor neuron disease was not yet explored. Here, we demonstrate by neuropathology that miR-218 is abundant in healthy human motor neurons. However, in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) motor neurons miR-218 is downregulated and its mRNA targets are reciprocally upregulated (de-repressed). We further identify the potassium channel Kv10.1 as a new miR-218 direct target that controls neuronal activity. In addition, we screened thousands of ALS genomes and identified six rare variants in the human miR-218-2 sequence. Intriguingly, miR-218 gene variants fail to regulate neuron activity, suggesting the importance of this small endogenous RNA for neuronal robustness. The underlying mechanisms involve inhibition of miR-218 biogenesis and reduced processing by DICER. Therefore, miR-218 activity uncovers a previously unappreciated facet of motor neuron specificity that may be particularly susceptible to failure in human ALS, contributes to a view of ALS as a disease with a prominent RNA component and suggests that miR-218 is a potential therapeutic target for motor neuron disease.