MicroRNA-34b has an oncogenic role in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract

Abstract. Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a common malignancy and one of the more difficult diseases to diagnose in Japan due to its poor prognosis. MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNAs of 21-23 nucleotides that regulate gene expression. MicroRNA-34b (miR-34b) has been reported to be overexpressed in various types of cancer. However, its role in ESCC has yet to be extensively studied. The present study investigated the expression of miR-34b in 88 ESCC patients. The miR-34b expression in ESCC was significantly higher than that in the corresponding normal esophageal mucosa. It was more highly expressed in tumors with more advanced stages. However, its expression did not correlate with the p53 status. Transfection of anti-miR-34b to the ESCC cells suppressed cell growth in vitro. These results suggest an oncogenic role of miR in ESCC.

miRNA–mRNA crosstalk in esophageal cancer: From diagnosis to therapy

“…Not only miR-34a but miR-34b and c are also correlated with p53 expression [66][67][68][69]. miR-34b seems to have a dicey role in cancer biology as it was found to function as an oncomiR, enhancing cell proliferation in ESCC cell lines [70] as opposed to its tumor suppressor role [71][72][73].…”

The analysis of microRNA-34 family expression in human cancer studies comparing cancer tissues with corresponding pericarcinous tissues

“…In accordance with the inclusion and exclusion criteria, only 61 independent studies were enrolled in the meta-analysis (Meng et al, 2007;Tazawa et al, 2007;Ambs et al, 2008;Lee et al, 2008;Schetter et al, 2008;Toyota et al, 2008;Chen et al, 2009;Gallardo et al, 2009;He et al, 2009;Katada et al, 2009;Lee et al, 2009;N. Li et al, 2009;Liu et al, 2009;Yao et al, 2009;Akao et al, 2010;Cai et al, 2010;Corney et al, 2010;Hagman et al, 2010;Harata et al, 2010;Liu et al, 2010;Pineau et al, 2010;Satzger et al, 2010;Scapoli et al, 2010;Bandi and Vassella, 2011;Li et al, 2011;Mudduluru et al, 2011;Osawa et al, 2011;Tsai et al, 2011;Yang and Wei, 2011;Cheung et al, 2012;D'Angelo et al, 2012;Ding et al, 2012;Hiroki et al, 2012;Jamieson et al, 2012;Kumar et al, 2012;Li et al, 2012;Luo et al, 2012;Martens-Uzunova et al, 2012;Roy et al, 2012;Shen et al, 2012;Su et al, 2012;…”

Potential clinical insights into microRNAs and their target genes in esophageal carcinoma

“…Another miRNA, miR-34b has an oncogenic role in ESCC, and its expression in ESCC was significantly higher than that in the corresponding normal esophageal mucosa. It was also more highly expressed in tumors with more advanced stages, and transfection of anti-miR-34b to the ESCC cells suppressed cell growth in vitro (Harata et al 2010).…”

“…MiRNAs that have oncogenic roles are categorized in oncogenic miRNAs (oncomiRs) (Harata et al 2010;Hiyoshi et al 2009;Lee et al 2009;Tian et al 2010;Tsuchiya et al 2011), while those that have tumor-suppressive effects are categorized in tumor-suppressive miRNAs (ts-miRs) (Kano et al 2010;Kitade and Akao 2010;Matsushima et al 2010b;Yuan et al 2010). OncomiRs that downregulate tumour suppressors (Lee et al 2009) or other important genes involved in differentiation might contribute to tumorigenesis by stimulating proliferation (Hiyoshi et al 2009;Lee et al 2009;Mori et al 2009) and invasion (Hiyoshi et al 2009;Mori et al 2009;Tian et al 2010) and by preventing apoptosis (Lee et al 2009) and increasing genetic instability (Wu 2011).…”