Pathway analysis of cancer-associated microRNA targets

  • Authors:
    • Hao Yang
    • Haiyang Zhang
    • Lin Zhu
    • Jin Wang
    • Chenyu Zhang
    • Donghai Li
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  • Published online on: October 11, 2012     https://doi.org/10.3892/ijo.2012.1658
  • Pages: 2213-2226
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Abstract

Carcinogenesis is a multi-step process, which includes oncogene activation, mutation silencing of tumor suppressor genes, impairment of chromosomes or epigenetic changes such as CpG island methylation through various cellular pathways, involving a series of somatic genetic alterations. Furthermore, miRNAs present a mechanism by which genes with diverse functions on multiple pathways can be simultaneously regulated at the post-transcriptional level. However, little is known about the cancer-related pathways through which cancer-associated miRNAs (CA-miRNAs) regulate these processes representing either positive or negative functions in carcinogenesis. This study investigated eleven miRNAs previously identified as cancer-related regulators. Using function and pathway analysis of their targeted genes, the relevance of miRNA regulation in the induction of cancer can be observed. The results showed that CA-miRNAs may function in the post-transcriptional level mainly through manipulating the expression of transcription factors and protein kinases, and target genes for the CA-miRNAs were most prominently predicted to function in the regulation of transcription. Our analysis also highlighted the potential of these CA-miRNAs to regulate the cell differentiation, proliferation, endocytosis and migration signaling logically required to cause a cancer cell mainly through five canonical pathways. Combined with previous cancer studies, the analysis of the relevance between functions of CA-miRNAs and cancer-related pathways exploring different internal carcinogenesis stimuli also revealed the potential of the top five pathways to regulate core carcinogenesis processes. These findings should form a useful knowledge base for potential future development of novel therapeutic treatments.
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December 2012
Volume 41 Issue 6

Print ISSN: 1019-6439
Online ISSN:1791-2423

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Copy and paste a formatted citation
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Spandidos Publications style
Yang H, Zhang H, Zhu L, Wang J, Zhang C and Li D: Pathway analysis of cancer-associated microRNA targets. Int J Oncol 41: 2213-2226, 2012
APA
Yang, H., Zhang, H., Zhu, L., Wang, J., Zhang, C., & Li, D. (2012). Pathway analysis of cancer-associated microRNA targets. International Journal of Oncology, 41, 2213-2226. https://doi.org/10.3892/ijo.2012.1658
MLA
Yang, H., Zhang, H., Zhu, L., Wang, J., Zhang, C., Li, D."Pathway analysis of cancer-associated microRNA targets". International Journal of Oncology 41.6 (2012): 2213-2226.
Chicago
Yang, H., Zhang, H., Zhu, L., Wang, J., Zhang, C., Li, D."Pathway analysis of cancer-associated microRNA targets". International Journal of Oncology 41, no. 6 (2012): 2213-2226. https://doi.org/10.3892/ijo.2012.1658