title: A systematic-analysis of predicted miR-21 targets identifies a signature for lung cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The well-known oncomiR-miR-21 was previously reported oncogenic activity in lung cancer. We sought to determine the expression of all predicted target genes of miR-21 and their potential function, pathways and networks, which are involved in the biological behavior of lung cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  After a systematic review of English language studies of lung cancer-related molecules were pooled; genes were classified in three functional groups by gene ontology (GO) analysis. The key molecules were indentified by establishing lung cancer related networks and pathways. MiR-21 targets were predicted by computational method, followed by screening for matched gene symbols in NCBI human sequences and GO, pathway and network analysis. MiR-21 targets and their network, which are involved in the malignant mechanisms of lung cancer, were obtained by the final integrative analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We indentified the potential functions, pathways and networks of lung cancer relating molecules and miR-21 targets respectively in the initial analysis. In the final integrative analysis of lung cancer related miR-21-targets analysis, 24 hub genes were identified by overlap calculation, suggesting that miR-21 may play an important role in the development and progression of lung cancer through JAK/STAT signal pathway, MAPK signaling pathway, Wnt signaling pathway, cell cycle, PPAR signaling pathway, apoptosis pathway and other pathways.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data may help researchers to predict the molecular mechanisms of miR-21 in the development and progression of lung cancer comprehensively. Moreover, the present data indicate that miR-21-targets may be a series of promising candidates as biomarkers for lung cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, 300 Guangzhou Road, Nanjing 210029, China. yoghurt831030@126.com
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shu
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics; D018450:Disease Progression; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: C524940:MIRN21 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs