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Is miR-144 an effective inhibitor of PTEN mRNA: a controversy in breast cancer

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Abstract

Breast cancer is the first common cancer among women worldwide. One of the major signaling pathways playing a role in the onset and progression of this disease is PI3K/Akt/mTOR, which can be inhibited by PTEN. miRNAs are small non-coding molecules that regulate the expression of their targets by inhibition or suppression, and thus, their dysregulated expression results in the development of cancer. Using various software applications predicting miRNAs and evaluating GEO microarray data, miR-144 was selected as an inhibitor of PTEN. The expression of miR-144 and PTEN was evaluated in 18 triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) clinical samples and cell lines including 4T1, MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-468, SK-BR-3, and MCF-7 in comparison with normal cells. PTEN and miR-144 expression analysis revealed their elevated expression in MCF-7 cells. MDA-MB-468, SK-BR-3, and MDA-MB-231 cells showed decreased levels of PTEN and increased levels of miR-144. In contrast, 4T1 cells had an increased expression of PTEN and decreased expression of miR-144. In clinical samples, miR-144 was up-regulated in 22% of the cases and PTEN was down-regulated in 78% of the cases. The results showed that the expression of PTEN and miR-144 was inversely correlated in metastatic breast cancer cell lines. However, in TNBC clinical samples, there was no correlation between the expression of miR-144 and PTEN. Literature shows that there are other influencing factors affecting the expression of miRNAs. Therefore, care should be taken in interpreting the results of gene expression studies and its relation with cancer diagnosis/prognosis.

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Acknowledgement

This study was funded by Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran [grant number: 5639]. The author would like to thank Stem Cell Technology Research Center, Tehran, Iran, for providing technical Support.

Funding

This study was funded by Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran [grant number: 5639].

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Author notes

  1. Vahid Kia and Maryam Sharif Beigli contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Biotechnology and nanotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran

    Vahid Kia

  2. Islamic Azad University, East Tehran branch Campus, Tehran, Iran

    Maryam Sharif Beigli

  3. Cellular and Molecular Biology Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Vahedeh Hosseini, Ameneh Koochaki & Samira Mohammadi-Yeganeh

  4. Department of Biotechnology, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Vahedeh Hosseini & Samira Mohammadi-Yeganeh

  5. Department of Research and Development, Production and Research Complex, Pasteur Institute of Iran, P.O. Box: 3159915111, Tehran, Iran

    Mahdi Paryan

Authors
  1. Vahid Kia
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  2. Maryam Sharif Beigli
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  3. Vahedeh Hosseini
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  4. Ameneh Koochaki
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  5. Mahdi Paryan
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  6. Samira Mohammadi-Yeganeh
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Correspondence to Mahdi Paryan or Samira Mohammadi-Yeganeh.

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Editor: Tetsuji Okamoto

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Kia, V., Sharif Beigli, M., Hosseini, V. et al. Is miR-144 an effective inhibitor of PTEN mRNA: a controversy in breast cancer. In Vitro Cell.Dev.Biol.-Animal 54, 621–628 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11626-018-0282-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11626-018-0282-2

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