MicroRNAs (miRNAs) constitute short non-coding RNAs that can post-transcriptionally modulate the expression of many oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes engaged in key cellular processes. Deregulated serum miRNA signatures have been detected in various solid cancers including prostate cancer, suggesting that circulating miRNAs could function as non-invasive biomarkers of tumor emergence and progression. To determine whether serum miRNA expression levels are different between patients with aggressive and non-aggressive prostate cancer, we analyzed a panel of miRNAs from the blood of African American (AA) prostate cancer patients using a new recursive partitioning method that allows hypothesis testing of each split. We observed that both extrema of circulating miR-17, i.e. upregulation and downregulation, are associated with aggressive prostate cancer. A similar effect was observed in tumor samples from a separate dataset representing a different population of prostate cancer patients and in AA prostate cancer samples from the TCGA. The dual effect is consistent with the contradictory findings on the role of miR-17 in prostate cancer progression, whereby it controls important oncogenic and tumor-suppressive genes.
American journal of cancer research. 2018 Oct 01*** epublish ***
Greg Dyson, Batoul Farran, Susan Bolton, Douglas B Craig, Alan Dombkowski, Jennifer L Beebe-Dimmer, Isaac J Powell, Izabela Podgorski, Lance K Heilbrun, Cathryn H Bock
Karmanos Cancer Institute and Department of Oncology, Wayne State University Detroit MI, USA., Karmanos Cancer Institute and Department of Pediatrics, Wayne State University Detroit MI, USA., Karmanos Cancer Institute and Department of Urology, Wayne State University Detroit MI, USA., Karmanos Cancer Institute and Department of Pharmacology, Wayne State University Detroit MI, USA.