title: Bioinformatics identification of potentially involved microRNAs in Tibetan with gastric cancer based on microRNA profiling.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The incidence of gastric cancer is high in Chinese Tibetan. This study aimed to identify the differentially expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) and further explore their potential roles in Tibetan with gastric cancer so as to predict potential therapeutic targets.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 10 Tibetan patients (male:female = 6:4) with gastric cancer were enrolled for isolation of matched gastric cancer and adjacent non-cancerous tissue samples. Affymetrix GeneChip microRNA 3.0 Array was employed for detection of miRNA expression in samples. Differential expression analysis between two sample groups was analyzed using Limma package. Then, MultiMiR package was used to predict targets for miRNAs. Following, the target genes were put into DAVID (Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery) to identify the significant pathways of miRNAs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Using Limma package in R, a total of 27 differentially expressed miRNAs were screened out in gastric cancer, including 25 down-regulated (e.g. hsa-miR-148a-3p, hsa-miR-148b-3p and hsa-miR-363-3p) and 2 up-regulated miRNAs. According to multiMiR package, a number of 1445 target genes (e.g. Wnt1, KLF4 and S1PR1) of 13 differentially expressed miRNAs were screened out. Among those miRNAs, hsa-miR-148a-3p, hsa-miR-148b-3p and hsa-miR-363-3p were identified with the most target genes. Furthermore, three miRNAs were significantly enriched in numerous common cancer-related pathways, including "Wnt signaling pathway", "MAPK signaling pathway" and "Jak-STAT signaling pathway".
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study identified a downregulation and enrichment in cancer-related pathways of hsa-miR-148a-3p, hsa-miR-148b-3p and hsa-miR-363-3p in Tibetan with gastric cancer, which can be suggested as therapeutic targets.
authors.affiliation: Research Center for High Altitude Medicine, Qinghai University of Medical School, Kunlong Road 16, Xining, 810001 China.|Department of Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University, Xining, 810001 China.
authors.forename: Yushuang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University, Xining, 810001 China.
authors.forename: Chengwu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Research Center for High Altitude Medicine, Qinghai University of Medical School, Kunlong Road 16, Xining, 810001 China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University, Xining, 810001 China.
authors.forename: Junhui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University, Xining, 810001 China.
authors.forename: Cunfang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University, Xining, 810001 China.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University, Xining, 810001 China.
authors.forename: Pengjie
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University, Xining, 810001 China.
authors.forename: Miaozhou
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University, Xining, 810001 China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University, Xining, 810001 China.
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Di
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University, Xining, 810001 China.
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Research Center for High Altitude Medicine, Qinghai University of Medical School, Kunlong Road 16, Xining, 810001 China.
authors.forename: Ge
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rili
keywords: Differentially expressed miRNAs; Enrichment analysis; Gastric cancer; Network of miRNAs-targets; miRNA microarray