Open AccessInvestigating the epi-miRNome: identification of epi-miRNAs using transfection experiments
Author(s) -
Elisa Reale,
Daniela Taverna,
Laura Cantini,
Loredana Martignetti,
Matteo Osella,
Cristiano De Pittà,
Federico Virga,
Francesca Orso,
Michele Caselle
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
epigenomics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.265
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1750-1911
pISSN - 1750-192X
DOI - 10.2217/epi-2019-0050
Subject(s) - microrna , biology , epigenetics , ezh2 , computational biology , histone , regulation of gene expression , histone methyltransferase , enhancer , transfection , gene , genetics , gene expression , cancer research
Aim: Growing evidence shows a strong interplay between post-transcriptional regulation, mediated by miRNAs (miRs) and epigenetic regulation. Nevertheless, the number of experimentally validated miRs (called epi-miRs) involved in these regulatory circuitries is still very small. Material & methods: We propose a pipeline to prioritize candidate epi-miRs and to identify potential epigenetic interactors of any given miR starting from miR transfection experiment datasets. Results & conclusion: We identified 34 candidate epi-miRs: 19 of them are known epi-miRs, while 15 are new. Moreover, using an in-house generated gene expression dataset, we experimentally proved that a component of the polycomb-repressive complex 2, the histone methyltransferase enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2), interacts with miR-214, a well-known prometastatic miR in melanoma and breast cancer, highlighting a miR-214-EZH2 regulatory axis potentially relevant in tumor progression.