Bioinformatics analysis of the expression and role of microRNA-221-3p in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

BMC Cancer

Wenling Wu¹  Ziyan Zhou²  Min Kang²  Mingjun Shen²  Jixi Li²  Shuo Shi³  Chang Liu⁴  Qinqiao Lai⁴  Rongxing Qin⁴  Zixi Xiao⁴ 

[1] Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, 530021, Nanning, Guangxi, People’s Republic of China;Department of Radiation Oncology, Guangxi Medical University First Affiliated Hospital, 530021, Nanning, Guangxi, People’s Republic of China;Guangxi Tumor Radiation Therapy Clinical Medical Research Center, 530021, Nanning, Guangxi, People’s Republic of China;Department of Thoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China;Guangxi Medical University, 530021, Nanning, Guangxi, People’s Republic of China;

关键词: HNSCC;    miR-221-3p;    RT-qPCR;    TCGA;    Bioinformatics;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12885-021-08039-5

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundHead and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most common cancer worldwide, associated with a high rate of morbidity and mortality. However, the target genes of miR-221-3p and the underlying mechanism involved in HNSCC are still not clear. Therefore, in the current study, we studied the role of miR-221-3p in the HNSCC.MethodsTissues collected from 48 control and 21 HNSCC patients were processed to check the differential expression of miR-221-3p by RT-qPCR. Overexpression of microRNA-221-3p (miR-221-3p) is significantly correlated to the onset and progression of HNSCC. We also conducted the meta-analysis of the cancer literature from the cancer genome atlas (TCGA) and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database to estimate the expression of miR-221-3p in HNSCC. The miR-221-3p target genes in the HNSCC were predicted with the miRWalk and TCGA databases, and functionally annotated via the Gene Ontology. Finally, Spearman’s analysis was used to determine the role of the related target genes in important pathways involved in the development of HNSCC.ResultsWe observed a significantly higher expression of miR-221-3p in HNSCC compared to the normal with a summary receiver operating characteristic (sROC) of 0.86(95% Cl: 0.83,0.89). The KEGG and GO comprehensive analysis predicted that miR-221-3p might be involved in the development of HNSCC through the following metabolic pathways, viz. Drug metabolism - cytochrome P450 UGT1A7 and MAOB may be important genes for the role of miR-221-3p.ConclusionBased on bioinformatics analysis, our results indicate that miR-221-3p may be used as a non-invasive and hypersensitive biomarker in the diagnosis. Thus, it can be concluded that miR-221-3p may be an extremely important gene locus involved in the process of the deterioration and eventual tumorigenesis of HNSCC. Hopefully, additional work will validate its usefulness as a target for future clinical research.

【 授权许可】

CC BY