title: Site-Specific MicroRNA Expression May Lead to Different Subtypes in Ulcerative Colitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Ulcerative Colitis (UC) is a type of inflammatory bowel disease, considered as an important disease of gastrointestinal tract having a huge impact on the health of the patient. Prolonged inflammation of colon in UC patients increases the risk of developing colorectal cancer. MiRNA are reported as a connecting link between inflammation and cancer. Differential miRNA expression is reported in Crohn's disease (CD) patients involving various regions of the gastrointestinal tract. The current study was performed to dissect out the site specific miRNA expression in the colon biopsy samples of UC patients from Northern India.
  
  
  METHODS
  Biopsy samples were collected from UC patients and healthy controls from Rectosigmoid Area (RS) and Ascending Colon (AC). MiRNA expression was compared between patients with RS and AC using a microarray platform. Differential expression was further validated by Real Time PCR analysis. Demographic and pathological data of UC -associated CRC patients was collected from the hospital database and analyzed for assessing the site of cancer.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Upon analysis of data generated on a microarray platform and qRT PCR revealed that the expression of six miRNAs hsa-miR-146b-5p, hsa-miR-335-3p, hsa-miR-342-3p, hsa-miR-644b-3p, hsa-miR-491-3p, hsa-miR-4732-3p were downregulated in patients where RS was involved as compared to AC. The expression of hsa-miR-141-3p was upregulated in patients where RS region was involved as compared to AC. Analysis of the registered UC patient's database from the hospital revealed that the site of CRC was predomimnantly the rectosigmoid region of the colon in most of the cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first study to show the differential expression of miRNA involving different sites of colon in UC patients. Taking our data and previous reports into consideration, we propose that differential miRNA expression during UC perhaps contribute in the development of UC-associated CRC at the rectosigmoid area.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Raju
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ranjha
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Surbhi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aggarwal
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Sawan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bopanna
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Vineet
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ahuja
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Jaishree
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Paul
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D003106:Colon / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008875:Middle Aged; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D011336:Probability; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs