title: Network of microRNAs-mRNAs interactions in pancreatic cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  MicroRNAs are small RNA molecules that regulate the expression of certain genes through interaction with mRNA targets and are mainly involved in human cancer. This study was conducted to make the network of miRNAs-mRNAs interactions in pancreatic cancer as the fourth leading cause of cancer death.
  
  
  METHODS
  56 miRNAs that were exclusively expressed and 1176 genes that were downregulated or silenced in pancreas cancer were extracted from beforehand investigations. MiRNA-mRNA interactions data analysis and related networks were explored using MAGIA tool and Cytoscape 3 software. Functional annotations of candidate genes in pancreatic cancer were identified by DAVID annotation tool.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This network is made of 217 nodes for mRNA, 15 nodes for miRNA, and 241 edges that show 241 regulations between 15 miRNAs and 217 target genes. The miR-24 was the most significantly powerful miRNA that regulated series of important genes. ACVR2B, GFRA1, and MTHFR were significant target genes were that downregulated.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although the collected previous data seems to be a treasure trove, there was no study simultaneous to analysis of miRNAs and mRNAs interaction. Network of miRNA-mRNA interactions will help to corroborate experimental remarks and could be used to refine miRNA target predictions for developing new therapeutic approaches.
authors.affiliation: Liver and Pancreatobiliary Diseases Research Center, Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Elnaz
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Naderi
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Engineering, Islamic Azad University,Tehran North Branch, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mostafaei
authors.affiliation: Liver and Pancreatobiliary Diseases Research Center, Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Akram
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pourshams
authors.affiliation: Liver and Pancreatobiliary Diseases Research Center, Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ashraf
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0744-0634
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mohamadkhani
mesh_terms: D019295:Computational Biology; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; D012333:RNA, Messenger