The association between miR-34 dysregulation and distant metastases formation in lung adenocarcinoma

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Abstract

Lung cancer has the highest mortality rate amongst human cancers and the majority of deaths can be attributed to metastatic spread. The miR-34 family includes three tumor suppressive miRs: miR-34a, miR-34b and miR-34c. miR-34 downregulation is a frequent observation in human malignancies and is often attributed to hypermethylation of the miR-34a and miR-34b/c promoters. Here, the potential association between aberrant miR-34 expression and promoter methylation and distant metastases formation in lung adenocarcinoma (LAC) is investigated. The expression levels of miR-34a, miR-34b and miR-34c, as well as the methylation status of the miR-34a and miR-34b/c promoters were determined in a LAC patient cohort comprising 26 non-metastasizing and 26 metastasizing primary LACs, as well as 24 paired distant metastases and 25 tumor-adjacent normal lung samples using RT-qPCR and Methylation-Sensitive High Resolution Melting (MS-HRM) analysis. No difference in expression was observed for miR-34a when comparing metastasizing and non-metastasizing LACs (p = 0.793). For both miR-34b and miR-34c, a significantly lower expression level was determined in metastasizing LACs compared to non-metastasizing LACs (p = 0.0005 and p = 0.002) with similarly decreased expression levels observed in the paired distant metastases. Hypermethylation was detected in 35/51 LACs compared to 0/25 tumor-adjacent normal lungs for the miR-34a promoter (p < 0.0001). Similarly, 18/51 LACs compared to 1/25 tumor-adjacent normal lungs showed hypermethylation of the miR-34b/c promoter (p = 0.003). No difference in methylation was observed between metastasizing and non-metastasizing LACs for neither the miR-34a (p = 0.832) nor the miR-34b/c (p = 0.900) promoter. In conclusion, miR-34a and miR-34b/c promoter hypermethylation is a frequent event in LAC occurring in 68.7% and 35.3% of tested cases (n = 51), respectively. Low miR-34b and miR-34c expression was associated with distant metastases formation in LAC. These changes can be targeted as novel biomarkers in LAC.

Original languageEnglish
JournalExperimental and Molecular Pathology
Volume102
Issue3
Pages (from-to)484-491
Number of pages8
ISSN0014-4800
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2017

Keywords

  • Journal Article

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