title: Downregulation of microRNA-211 is involved in expression of preferentially expressed antigen of melanoma in melanoma cells.
abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs whose aberrations are involved in the initiation and progression of human cancers. To seek unique miRNAs contributing to melanoma tumorigenesis, we investigated the global miRNA expression profile of 7 melanoma cell lines and 3 primary cultures of neonatal human epidermal melanocytes (NHEMs) using the stem-loop real-time PCR method. We found 7 miRNAs that were commonly downregulated and 18 that were upregulated in all of the melanoma cell lines in comparison with the 3 primary cultures of NHEMs. We focused on one commonly downregulated miRNA (miR-211), and analyzed its relationship to the expression of preferentially expressed antigen of melanoma (PRAME) protein, which is a potential target of miR-211. We found that all melanoma cell lines exhibited marked down--regulation of miR-211 and upregulation of PRAME mRNA/protein expression in comparison with NHEMs (P<0.05). A significant inverse correlation between miR-211 and PRAME protein expression was found in melanoma cell lines and primary cultures of NHEMs (correlation coefficient of -0.733, P<0.05). We demonstrated that overexpression of miR-211 induced a reduction of PRAME protein levels, and confirmed the target specificity between miR-211 and PRAME by luciferase reporter assay. These results suggest that downregulation of miR-211 may be partly involved in aberrant expression of the PRAME protein in melanoma cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Tumor Biology, Division of Bioscience, Center for Advanced Medical Science, School of Medicine, Iwate Medical University, Morioka 020-8505, Japan.
authors.forename: Eiichi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sakurai
authors.forename: Chihaya
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Maesawa
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shibazaki
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yasuhira
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Oikawa
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Kanako
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsunoda
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.forename: Ayano
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Toshihide
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Akasaka
authors.forename: Tomoyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Masuda
mesh_terms: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D015536:Down-Regulation; D057809:HEK293 Cells; D006801:Humans; D008545:Melanoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; C549405:MIRN211 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs; C404944:PRAME protein, human