Antitumor function of microRNA-122 against hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

MicroRNA-122 (miR-122), a highly abundant and liver-specific miRNA, acts as a tumor suppressor against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Decreased expression of miR-122 in HCC is frequently observed and is associated with poor differentiation, larger tumor size, metastasis and invasion, and poor prognosis. Mutant mice with knockout

Xenosensor CAR mediates down-regulation of miR-122 and up-regulation of miR-122 targets in the liver

“…MiR-122 acts as a tumour suppressor by binding to target genes involved in cell proliferation, migration, differentiation, apoptosis and angiogenesis (Nakao et al, 2014). MiR-122 is dramatically downregulated in most HCCs.…”

“…Further, overexpression of miR-122 reduces tumorigenic properties of HCC cells, indicating that it acts as tumour suppressor (Bai et al, 2009). Some of the miR-122 targets are involved in cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and angiogenesis (Xu et al, 2012;Nakao et al, 2014). Although miR-122 expression is reduced in HCC, the mechanism of this down-regulation is still unclear.…”

Microrna expression signatures predict patient progression and disease outcome in pediatric embryonal central nervous system neoplasms

“…Down-regulation of miR-452 has been associated with promoting stem-like traits and tumorigenesis of gliomas and it has been suggested that it may represent a novel prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for the disease [62]. In addition, miR-122, has been well-documented to act as tumor-suppressor gene for hepatocellular carcinoma [63,64] and breast cancer [65]. Regarding brain tumors, under expression of miRNA-122 has been demonstrated in glioma specimens and glioma cell lines and has been inversely correlated with patients’ survival following surgery [66].…”

Non-coding RNAs: New therapeutic targets and opportunities for hepatocellular carcinoma

“…Although it is expressed abundantly in mouse and human liver cells, it has a very low level of expression in most tissues [21] . miR-122 plays a critical role in regulating hepatocyte development and differentiation, lipid metabolism, as well as stress response [22] . Tsai et al used a computational approach and identified multiple miR-122 candidate target genes from two independent expression microarray datasets in an orthotopic HCC model in vivo with tumorigenesis, angiogenesis and intrahepatic metastasis, proving that liver-specific miR-122 is significantly down-regulated in HCC with intrahepatic metastasis, and negatively regulates tumorigenesis by targeting ADAM17 [23] .…”