Regulatory role of microRNAs in cancer through Hippo signaling pathway

MicroRNAs as Targets for Cancer Diagnosis: Interests and Limitations

MicroRNAs are small RNAs with ability to attach to the large number of RNA that regulate gene expression on post-transcriptional level via inhibition or degradation of specific mRNAs. MiRNAs in cells are the primary regulators of functions such as cell growth, differentiation, and apoptosis and considerably influence cell function. The expression levels of microRNAs change in human diseases, including cancer. These changes highlight their essential role in cancer pathogenesis. Ubiquitous irregular expression profiles of miRNAs have been detected in various human cancers using genome-wide identification techniques, which are emerging as novel diagnostic and prognostic cancer biomarkers of high specificity and sensitivity. The measurable miRNAs with enhanced stability in blood, tissues, and other body fluids provide a comprehensive source of miRNA-dependent biomarkers for human cancers. The leading role of miRNAs as potential biomarkers in human cancers is discussed in this article. In addition, the interests and difficulties of miRNAs as biomarkers have been explored.

Breast Cancer Therapeutics and Hippo Signaling Pathway: Novel MicroRNA-Gene-Protein Interaction Networks

The Hippo signaling pathway is a master regulator of development, cell proliferation, and apoptosis in particular, and it plays an important role in tissue regeneration, controlling organ size, and cancer suppression. Dysregulation of the Hippo signaling pathway has been implicated in breast cancer, a highly prevalent cancer affecting 1 out of every 15 women worldwide. While the Hippo signaling pathway inhibitors are available, they are suboptimal, for example, due to chemoresistance, mutation, and signal leakage. Inadequate knowledge about the Hippo pathway connections and their regulators limits our ability to uncover novel molecular targets for drug development. We report here novel microRNA (miRNA)-gene and protein-protein interaction networks in the Hippo signaling pathway. We employed the GSE miRNA dataset for the present study. The GSE57897 dataset was normalized and searched for differentially expressed miRNAs, and their targets were searched using the miRWalk2.0 tool. From the upregulated miRNAs, we observed that the hsa-miR-205-5p forms the biggest cluster and targets four genes involved in the Hippo signaling pathway. Interestingly, we found a novel connection between two Hippo signaling pathway proteins, angiomotin (AMOT) and mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 4 (SMAD4). From the downregulated miRNAs, hsa-miR-16-5p, hsa-miR-7g-5p, hsa-miR-141-3p, hsa-miR-103a-3p, hsa-miR-21-5p, and hsa-miR-200c-3p, target genes were present in the pathway. We found that PTEN, EP300, and BTRC were important cancer-inhibiting proteins, form hubs, and their genes interact with downregulating miRNAs. We suggest that targeting proteins from these newly unraveled networks in the Hippo signaling pathway and further research on the interaction of hub-forming cancer-inhibiting proteins can open up new avenues for next-generation breast cancer therapeutics.

MiRNA-93: a novel signature in human disorders and drug resistance

miRNA-93 is a member of the miR-106b-25 family and is encoded by a gene on chromosome 7q22.1. They play a role in the etiology of various diseases, including cancer, Parkinson's disease, hepatic injury, osteoarthritis, acute myocardial infarction, atherosclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and chronic kidney disease. Different studies have found that this miRNA has opposing roles in the context of cancer. Recently, miRNA-93 has been downregulated in breast cancer, gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, bladder cancer, cervical cancer, and renal cancer. However, miRNA-93 is up-regulated in a wide variety of malignancies, such as lung, colorectal, glioma, prostate, osteosarcoma, and hepatocellular carcinoma. The aim of the current review is to provide an overview of miRNA-93's function in cancer disorder progression and non-cancer disorders, with a focus on dysregulated signaling pathways. We also give an overview of this miRNA's function as a biomarker of prognosis in cancer and emphasize how it contributes to drug resistance based on in vivo, in vitro, and human studies. Video Abstract.

Chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cells: Novel cell therapy for hematological malignancies

Over the last decade, the emergence of several novel therapeutic approaches has changed the therapeutic perspective of human malignancies. Adoptive immunotherapy through chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T), which includes the engineering of T cells to recognize tumor-specific membrane antigens and, as a result, death of cancer cells, has created various clinical benefits for the treatment of several human malignancies. In particular, CAR-T-cell-based immunotherapy is known as a critical approach for the treatment of patients with hematological malignancies such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), multiple myeloma (MM), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), acute myeloid leukemia (AML), Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). However, CAR-T-cell therapy of hematological malignancies is associated with various side effects. There are still extensive challenges in association with further progress of this therapeutic approach, from manufacturing and engineering issues to limitations of applications and serious toxicities. Therefore, further studies are required to enhance efficacy and minimize adverse events. In the current review, we summarize the development of CAR-T-cell-based immunotherapy and current clinical antitumor applications to treat hematological malignancies. Furthermore, we will mention the current advantages, disadvantages, challenges, and therapeutic limitations of CAR-T-cell therapy.

Hsa-miR-143-3p inhibits Wnt-β-catenin and MAPK signaling in human corneal epithelial stem cells

Our previous study demonstrated hsa-miR-143-3p as one of the highly expressed miRNAs in enriched corneal epithelial stem cells (CESCs). Hence this study aims to elucidate the regulatory role of hsa-miR-143-3p in the maintenance of stemness in CESCs. The target genes of hsa-miR-143-3p were predicted and subjected to pathway analysis to select the targets for functional studies. Primary cultured limbal epithelial cells were transfected with hsa-miR-143-3p mimic, inhibitor or scrambled sequence using Lipofectamine 3000. The transfected cells were analysed for (i) colony forming potential, (ii) expression of stem cell (SC) markers/ transcription factors (ABCG2, NANOG, OCT4, KLF4, ΔNp63), (iii) differentiation marker (Cx43), (iv) predicted five targets of hsa-miR-143-3p (DVL3, MAPK1, MAPK14, KRAS and KAT6A), (v) MAPK signaling regulators and (vi) Wnt-β-catenin signaling regulators by qPCR, immunofluorescence staining and/or Western blotting. High expression of hsa-miR-143-3p increased the colony forming potential (10.04 ± 1.35%, p < 0.001) with the ability to form holoclone-like colonies in comparison to control (3.33 ± 0.71%). The mimic treated cells had increased expression of SC markers but reduced expression of Cx43 and hsa-miR-143-3p targets involved in Wnt-β-catenin and MAPK signaling pathways. The expression of β-catenin, active β-catenin and ERK2 in hsa-miR-143-3p inhibitor transfected cells were higher than the control cells and the localized nuclear expression indicated the activation of Wnt and MAPK signaling. Thus, the probable association of hsa-miR-143-3p in the maintenance of CESCs through inhibition of Wnt and MAPK signaling pathways was thus indicated.

MicroRNA-127 and MicroRNA-132 Expression in Patients with Methamphetamine Abuse in East Azerbaijan, Iran: A Case-Control Study

Background

Addiction is a personal and social problem worldwide, and has physical and psychological effects on consumers' health. Recently, miRNAs have been described as noninvasive biomarkers. Currently, methamphetamine abuse (MA) is mainly diagnosed by chromatography. This study aimed to investigate the expression and diagnostic value of miR-127 and miR-132 in blood samples of patients with MA and non-user healthy controls.

Methods

A total of 60 patients with MA (case group) and 60 non-user healthy individuals (control group) were selected from Tabriz, East Azerbaijan, Iran. Peripheral blood was obtained and total RNA was extracted. Then, cDNA synthesis was performed and miR-127 and miR-132 expression was evaluated using real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method.

Findings

The results of this study demonstrated that miR-127 was significantly lower (0.042-fold change) in patients with MA than in the control group (P<0.05). However, miR-132 was significantly higher (7.1-fold change) in patients with MA than in the control group (P<0.05).

Conclusion

In general, expression of miR-127 and miR-132 may alter in patients with MA. Further studies are needed to identify underlying molecular mechanisms in patients with MA.

Investigation of miR-222 as a potential biomarker in diagnosis of patients with methamphetamine abuse disorder

Background

Methamphetamine abuse disorder is an important social and health problem worldwide. Diagnosis and confirmation of patients with methamphetamine abuse using serum are important in many fields. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding oligonucleotides and recently suggested as a biomarker for earlier diagnosis of several human disorders. Therefore, in this study, we investigated miR-222 and miR-212 expressions in blood of patients with methamphetamine abuse disorder comparison with healthy control subjects.

Results

The results revealed that the expression of blood miR-222 is significantly increased (12.9-fold change) in patients with methamphetamine abuse disorders compared to healthy controls (p < 0.05). However, expression of miR-212 is at the same levels in both patients and healthy controls (p > 0.05).

Conclusions

In general, we suggested that the miR-222 may play a potentially important role in pathogenesis of methamphetamine abuse disorder and can be considered as an applied tool for identifying individuals with methamphetamine abuse disorder.

Cancer immunotherapy: Challenges and limitations

Although cancer immunotherapy has taken center stage in mainstream oncology inducing complete and long-lasting tumor regression, only a subset of patients receiving treatment respond and others relapse after an initial response. Different tumor types respond differently, and even in cancer types that respond (hot tumors), we still observe tumors that are unresponsive (cold tumors), suggesting the presence of resistance. Hence, the development of intrinsic or acquired resistance is a big challenge for the cancer immunotherapy field. Resistance to immunotherapy, including checkpoint inhibitors, CAR-T cell therapy, oncolytic viruses, and recombinant cytokines arises due to cancer cells employing several mechanisms to evade immunosurveillance.

Evaluation of Diagnostic Potential of Epigenetically Deregulated MiRNAs in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Background

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is one of the most lethal gynecological malignancies among women worldwide. Early diagnosis of EOC could help in ovarian cancer management. MicroRNAs, a class of small non-coding RNA molecules, are known to be involved in post-transcriptional regulation of ~60% of human genes. Aberrantly expressed miRNAs associated with disease progression are confined in lipid or lipoprotein and secreted as extracellular miRNA in body fluid such as plasma, serum, and urine. MiRNAs are stably present in the circulation and recently have gained an importance to serve as a minimally invasive biomarker for early detection of epithelial ovarian cancer.

Methods

Genome-wide methylation pattern of six EOC and two normal ovarian tissue samples revealed differential methylation regions of miRNA gene promoter through MeDIP-NGS sequencing. Based on log2FC and p-value, three hypomethylated miRNAs (miR-205, miR-200c, and miR-141) known to have a potential role in ovarian cancer progression were selected for expression analysis through qRT-PCR. The expression of selected miRNAs was analyzed in 115 tissue (85 EOC, 30 normal) and 65 matched serum (51 EOC and 14 normal) samples.

Results

All three miRNAs (miR-205, miR-200c, and miR-141) showed significantly higher expression in both tissue and serum cohorts when compared with normal controls (p < 0.0001). The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of miR-205, miR-200c, and miR-141 has area under the curve (AUC) values of 87.6 (p < 0.0001), 78.2 (p < 0.0001), and 86.0 (p < 0.0001), respectively; in advance-stage serum samples, however, ROC has AUC values of 88.1 (p < 0.0001), 78.9 (p < 0.0001), and 86.7 (p < 0.0001), respectively, in early-stage serum samples. The combined diagnostic potential of the three miRNAs in advance-stage serum samples and early-stage serum samples has AUC values of 95.9 (95% CI: 0.925-1.012; sensitivity = 96.6% and specificity = 80.0%) and 98.1 (95% CI: 0.941-1.021; sensitivity = 90.5% and specificity = 100%), respectively.

Conclusion

Our data correlate the epigenetic deregulation of the miRNA genes with their expression. In addition, the miRNA panel (miR-205 + miR-200c + miR-141) has a much higher AUC, sensitivity, and specificity to predict EOC at an early stage in both tissue and serum samples.

The role of microRNA-338-3p in cancer: growth, invasion, chemoresistance, and mediators

Cancer still remains as one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Metastasis and proliferation are abnormally increased in cancer cells that subsequently, mediate resistance of cancer cells to different therapies such as radio-, chemo- and immune-therapy. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous short non-coding RNAs that can regulate expression of target genes at post-transcriptional level and capable of interaction with mRNA-coding genes. Vital biological mechanisms including apoptosis, migration and differentiation are modulated by these small molecules. MiRNAs are key players in regulating cancer proliferation and metastasis as well as cancer therapy response. MiRNAs can function as both tumor-suppressing and tumor-promoting factors. In the present review, regulatory impact of miRNA-338-3p on cancer growth and migration is discussed. This new emerging miRNA can regulate response of cancer cells to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. It seems that miRNA-338-3p has dual role in cancer chemotherapy, acting as tumor-promoting or tumor-suppressor factor. Experiments reveal anti-tumor activity of miRNA-338-3p in cancer. Hence, increasing miRNA-338-3p expression is of importance in effective cancer therapy. Long non-coding RNAs, circular RNAs and hypoxia are potential upstream mediators of miRNA-338-3p in cancer. Anti-tumor agents including baicalin and arbutin can promote expression of miRNA-338-3p in suppressing cancer progression. These topics are discussed to shed some light on function of miRNA-338-3p in cancer cells.

The role of tumor suppressor short non-coding RNAs on breast cancer

Characterized by remarkable levels of aggression and malignancy, BC remains one of the leading causes of death in females world wide. Accordingly, significant efforts have been made to develop early diagnostic tools, increase treatment efficacy, and improve patient prognosis. Hopefully, many of the molecular mechanisms underlying BC have been detected and show promising targeting potential. In particular, short and long non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are a class of endogenous BC controllers and include a number of different species including microRNAs, Piwi-interacting RNAs, small nucleolar RNA, short interfering RNAs, and tRNA-derivatives. In this review, we discuss the tumor suppressing roles of ncRNAs in the context of BC, and the mechanisms by which ncRNAs target tumor hallmarks, including apoptosis, proliferation, invasion, metastasis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, angiogenesis, and cell cycle progression, in addition to their diagnostic and prognostic significance in cancer treatment.

The pivotal role of MicroRNAs in glucose metabolism in cancer

Cancer cells are able to undergo aerobic glycolysis and metabolize glucose to lactate instead of oxidative phosphorylation, which is known as Warburg effect. Accumulating evidence has revealed that microRNAs regulate cancer cell metabolism, which manifest a higher rate of glucose metabolism. Various signaling pathways along with glycolytic enzymes are responsible for the emergence of glycolytic dependence. MicroRNAs are a class of non-coding RNAs that are not translated into proteins but regulate target gene expression or in other words function pre-translationally and post-transcriptionally. MicroRNAs have been shown to be involved in various biological processes, including glucose metabolism via targeting major transcription factors, enzymes, oncogenes or tumor suppressors alongside the oncogenic signaling pathways. In this review, we describe the regulatory role of microRNAs of cancer cell glucose metabolism, including in the glucose uptake, glycolysis, tricarboxylic acid cycle and several signaling pathways and further suggest that microRNA-based therapeutics can be used to inhibit the process of glucose metabolism reprogramming in cancer cells and thus suppressing cancer progression.

MOB: Pivotal Conserved Proteins in Cytokinesis, Cell Architecture and Tissue Homeostasis

The MOB family proteins are constituted by highly conserved eukaryote kinase signal adaptors that are often essential both for cell and organism survival. Historically, MOB family proteins have been described as kinase activators participating in Hippo and Mitotic Exit Network/ Septation Initiation Network (MEN/SIN) signaling pathways that have central roles in regulating cytokinesis, cell polarity, cell proliferation and cell fate to control organ growth and regeneration. In metazoans, MOB proteins act as central signal adaptors of the core kinase module MST1/2, LATS1/2, and NDR1/2 kinases that phosphorylate the YAP/TAZ transcriptional co-activators, effectors of the Hippo signaling pathway. More recently, MOBs have been shown to also have non-kinase partners and to be involved in cilia biology, indicating that its activity and regulation is more diverse than expected. In this review, we explore the possible ancestral role of MEN/SIN pathways on the built-in nature of a more complex and functionally expanded Hippo pathway, by focusing on the most conserved components of these pathways, the MOB proteins. We discuss the current knowledge of MOBs-regulated signaling, with emphasis on its evolutionary history and role in morphogenesis, cytokinesis, and cell polarity from unicellular to multicellular organisms.