Deregulation of dicer and mir-155 expression in liposarcoma

// Bruno Vincenzi 1 , Michele Iuliani 2 , Alice Zoccoli 2 , Francesco Pantano 1 , Marco Fioramonti 2 , Delia De Lisi 1 , Anna Maria Frezza 1 , Carla Rabitti 3 , Giuseppe Perrone 3 , Andrea Onetti Muda 3 , Antonio Russo 5 , Antonio Giordano 6, 7 , Daniele Santini 1 , Angelo Paolo Dei Tos 4 , Giuseppe Tonini 1 1 Medical Oncology, Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, Rome, Italy 2 Translational Oncology Laboratory, Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, Rome, Italy 3 Pathology, Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, Rome, Italy 4 Anatomic Pathology, General Hospital of Treviso, Treviso, Italy 5 Department of Surgical, Oncological and Oral Sciences, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy 6 Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, College of Science and Technology, Temple University BioLife Science, Philadelphia, PA, USA 7 Department of Medicine, Surgery & Neuroscience University of Siena, Italy Correspondence to: Antonio Russo, e-mail: antonio.russo@usa.net Keywords: Dicer, Drosha, mir-155, liposarcoma Received: December 19, 2014      Accepted: January 23, 2015      Published: April 04, 2015 ABSTRACT Liposarcoma (LPS) is the most common soft tissue sarcoma. It has been demonstrated that mir-155 was the most overexpressed miRNA in well-differentiated LPS(WDLPS)/dedifferentiated LPS (DDLPS). The aim of this study is to evaluate the involvement of Dicer, Drosha and mir-155 in development of LPS and their possible role in stratification of different histological subtypes. Dicer, Drosha and mir-155 mRNA levels were analyzed in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded specimens from patients diagnosed with 62 LPS and compared with samples of adipose tissues of healthy donors. The experimental data were obtained using qRT-PCR comparing Dicer, Drosha and mir-155 expression levels in tumor samples versus normal fat. The tumor samples from LPS patients showed a significantly lower Dicer expression versus normal adipose tissue, while Drosha levels did not differ. Concerning mir155 expression levels, our results demonstrated a significant mir-155 up-regulation in all LPS subtypes versus normal adipose tissue except for WDLS. These findings demonstrate for the first time that Dicer is deregulated in LPS and show that mir-155 is differentially expressed in LPS subgroups and it could be a promising tool to improve LPS disease stratification and differential diagnosis.