Profiling of MicroRNA Expression in Head and Neck Cancer

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs that play regulatory roles by repressing translation or cleaving RNA transcripts. Accumulating evidence suggests that miRNAs are aberrantly expressed in many human cancers and that they play significant roles in the initiation, development and metastasis of human cancers. Genome-wide miRNA expression profiling provides information on the aberrant expression of miRNAs in cancers rapidly and precisely. Many human cancers have been profiled but there are few published studies in head and neck cancer. In this study, the expression of miRNAs was determined in five patient-matched head and neck tissues using miRNA microarray. Expression of eight miRNAs including miR-1, miR-126* (*, refer to miR-126-3p), miR-139, miR-375, miR-181a, miR-181b, miR-21 and miR-7 were validated using real-time RT-PCR and/or Northern blot analysis. This study provides the largest genome-wide survey of mature miRNA transcripts in head and neck cancer. The implication of aberrantly expressed miRNAs in head and neck cancer suggested their involvement in the development and progression of these malignancies. Further experiments of these deregulated miRNAs will help elucidate their roles in tumorigenesis and furnish their potential clinical usage for early diagnosis, prognosis and therapy of head and neck cancer.