Open AccessClinical and biological significance of miR-23b and miR-193a in human hepatocellular carcinoma
Author(s) -
Ilaria Grossi,
Bruna Arici,
Nazario Portolani,
Giuseppina De Petro,
Alessandro Salvi
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
oncotarget
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.373
H-Index - 127
ISSN - 1949-2553
DOI - 10.18632/oncotarget.14332
Subject(s) - dna methylation , hccs , microrna , hepatocellular carcinoma , cancer research , methylation , medicine , cancer , epigenetics , biology , oncology , gene expression , gene , genetics
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common cancer of the liver with a very poor prognosis. The dysregulation of microRNAs (miRs) is indeed implicated in HCC onset and progression. In this study, we have evaluated the expression of miR-23b and miR-193a in a large cohort of 59 and 67 HCC patients, respectively. miR-23b and miR-193a resulted significantly down-regulated in primary HCCs compared to their matched peritumoral counterparts. Furthermore, patients with higher miR-193a expression exhibited longer OS and DFS, suggesting that miR-193a may be a molecular prognostic factor for HCC patients. Since the regulation of miRs by DNA methylation may occur in human cancers, we verified whether the down-modulation of miR-23b and miR-193a in HCC tissues could be related to DNA methylation. An inverse trend between miR-23b expression and DNA methylation was observed, indicating that miR-23b can be epigenetically regulated. By contrast, the down-regulation of miR-193a was not mediated by DNA methylation. To verify the potential role of miR-23b and miR-193a as responsive molecular targets in vitro, we used the inhibitor of DNA methylation 5-aza-dC to restore miR-23b expression level in combination with miR-193a transfection. The combined treatment led to a significant inhibition of cellular proliferation and migration. Taken together, our findings provide evidence that miR-23b and miR-193a may be molecular diagnostic and prognostic factors for HCC; furthermore, miR-23b and miR-193a are responsive molecular targets for limiting HCC cell aggressiveness in combination with the epigenetic drug 5-aza-dC. Moreover, our results provide new advances in the epigenetic regulation of these miRs in HCC.