Human hepatocellular carcinoma cell-specific miRNAs reveal the differential expression of miR-24 and miR-27a in cirrhotic/non-cirrhotic HCC

Salvi,Alessandro; Abeni,Edoardo; Portolani,Nazario; Barlati,Sergio; De Petro,Giuseppina

doi:10.3892/ijo.2012.1716

Human hepatocellular carcinoma cell-specific miRNAs reveal the differential expression of miR-24 and miR-27a in cirrhotic/non-cirrhotic HCC

Authors:
- Alessandro Salvi
- Edoardo Abeni
- Nazario Portolani
- Sergio Barlati
- Giuseppina De Petro
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Affiliations: Department of Biomedical Sciences and Biotechnologies, Division of Biology and Genetics, University of Brescia, I-25123 Brescia, Italy, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Brescia, I-25123 Brescia, Italy
Published online on: November 28, 2012 https://doi.org/10.3892/ijo.2012.1716
Pages: 391-402
Copyright: © Salvi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License [CC BY_NC 3.0].

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Abstract

microRNAs (miRs) are 18-25 nucleotide non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression in several physiological and pathological conditions. To gather more knowledge on microRNAs in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) we generated a small RNA library in the human HCC cell line HA22T/VGH by cloning and sequencing the cDNA obtained following the size selection of 18-24 nucleotide RNAs. We determined the expression levels of the most frequently cloned microRNAs by qPCR in HCC tissues and in their peritumoral counterparts from biopsy specimens of 41 HCC patients. The most frequently cloned miRs were miR-24, miR-27a and miR-21, and their expression levels in human HCC tissues indicate that these miRs were dysregulated in HCC. We showed that miR-24 and miR-27a were significantly downregulated in HCCs from cirrhotic liver tissues in comparison to those from non-cirrhotic liver tissues. In cirrhotic HCCs the downregulation of miR-24 was correlated with poorer prognosis in patients with HBV and HCV virus infections. miR-21 was generally upregulated in HCC tissues versus the corresponding peritumoral tissues, particularly in non-cirrhotic HCC. Furthermore, by sequence alignment we identified the human miR orthologue of Mus musculus miR-1199 not yet annotated. Our results outline the differential expression of miRs in cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic HCCs, thereby contributing to advances in the discovery and validation of novel molecular biomarkers of HCC progression.

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