title: Mining cancer gene expression databases for latent information on intronic microRNAs.
abstract: Around 50% of all human microRNAs reside within introns of coding genes and are usually co-transcribed. Gene expression datasets, therefore, should contain a wealth of miRNA-relevant latent information, exploitable for many basic and translational research aims. The present study was undertaken to investigate this possibility. We developed an in silico approach to identify intronic-miRNAs relevant to breast cancer, using public gene expression datasets. This led to the identification of a miRNA signature for aggressive breast cancer, and to the characterization of novel roles of selected miRNAs in cancer-related biological phenotypes. Unexpectedly, in a number of cases, expression regulation of the intronic-miRNA was more relevant than the expression of their host gene. These results provide a proof of principle for the validity of our intronic miRNA mining strategy, which we envision can be applied not only to cancer research, but also to other biological and biomedical fields.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Medicine Program, Department of Experimental Oncology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Monterisi
authors.affiliation: Molecular Medicine Program, Department of Experimental Oncology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: D'Ario
authors.affiliation: Molecular Medicine Program, Department of Experimental Oncology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy; Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dama
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rotmensz
authors.affiliation: Molecular Medicine Program, Department of Experimental Oncology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy; IFOM, The FIRC Institute for Molecular Oncology Foundation, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Confalonieri
authors.affiliation: Molecular Medicine Program, Department of Experimental Oncology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tordonato
authors.affiliation: Molecular Medicine Program, Department of Experimental Oncology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Flavia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Troglio
authors.affiliation: Molecular Medicine Program, Department of Experimental Oncology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bertalot
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Maisonneuve
authors.affiliation: Division of Pathology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy; School of Medicine, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Viale
authors.affiliation: Molecular Medicine Program, Department of Experimental Oncology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy; IFOM, The FIRC Institute for Molecular Oncology Foundation, Milan, Italy; Center for Genomic Science of IIT@SEMM, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nicassio
authors.affiliation: Molecular Medicine Program, Department of Experimental Oncology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy; IFOM, The FIRC Institute for Molecular Oncology Foundation, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vecchi
authors.affiliation: Molecular Medicine Program, Department of Experimental Oncology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy; IFOM, The FIRC Institute for Molecular Oncology Foundation, Milan, Italy; Department of Scienze della Salute, University of Milan, Milan, Italy. Electronic address: pierpaolo.difiore@ieo.eu.
authors.forename: Pier Paolo
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Di Fiore
authors.affiliation: Molecular Medicine Program, Department of Experimental Oncology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy. Electronic address: fabrizio.bianchi@ieo.eu.
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bianchi
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007438:Introns; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm
keywords: Breast cancer; Cancer; Gene expression; MicroRNA