title: Over-expression of miR-10b in NPC patients: correlation with LMP1 and Twist1.
abstract: Aberrant expression of miR-10b has been described in many cancers but remains unexplored in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Therefore, we aimed to study the miR-10b expression level in 43 NPC biopsies collected from Tunisian patients and three NPC xenografts. Then, we investigated the correlation between miR-10b expression and its upstream regulators LMP1/Twist1 as well as its adjacent gene HoxD4. We showed that miR-10b was significantly up-regulated in NPC biopsies compared to non-tumor nasopharyngeal tissues (fold change 153; p = 0.004) and associated with advanced clinical stage and young age at diagnosis (p = 0.005 and p = 0.011, respectively). In addition, over-expression of miR-10b was positively associated with the transcription factor Twist1 as well as the EBV oncoprotein LMP1 (fold change 6.32; p = 0.014, fold change 6.58; p = 0.01 respectively). Furthermore, higher level of miR-10b was observed in tumors with simultaneous expression of LMP1 and Twist1, compared to those expressing only Twist1 (fold change 2.49; p = 0.033). Meanwhile, the analysis of the link between miR-10b and its neighbor gene HoxD4 did not show any significant correlation (Fisher test p = 0.205; Mann-Whitney test p = 0.676). This study reports the first evidence of miR-10b over-expression in NPC patients. Furthermore, our findings can support hsa-miR-10b gene regulation through LMP1/Twist1 in NPC malignancy.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biomass Valorization and Production of Proteins in Eucaryots, Department of Cancer Genetic, Center of Biotechnology of Sfax, University of Sfax, Sidi Mansour Street, BP "K" 1177, Sfax, 3038, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Nesrine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Allaya
authors.forename: Abdelmajid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khabir
authors.forename: Tahia
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sallemi-Boudawara
authors.forename: Noura
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sellami
authors.forename: Jamel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Daoud
authors.forename: Abdelmonem
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghorbel
authors.forename: Mounir
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Frikha
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gargouri
authors.forename: Raja
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mokdad-Gargouri
authors.forename: Wajdi
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ayadi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D002277:Carcinoma; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D051379:Mice; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D000077274:Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D051879:Twist-Related Protein 1 / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D023041:Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays
chemical_list: C037662:EBV-associated membrane antigen, Epstein-Barr virus; C547183:MIRN10 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; C103173:TWIST1 protein, human; D051879:Twist-Related Protein 1; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins