title: Altered expression of miR-125a-5p in thymoma-associated myasthenia gravis and its down-regulation of foxp3 expression in Jurkat cells.
abstract: Myasthenia gravis is an autoantibody-mediated and T cell-dependent autoimmune disease of neuromuscular junctions. Thymomas may play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of thymoma-associated myasthenia gravis (TAMG), but the thymic pathogenesis of TAMG is unknown. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding RNA molecules 21-24 nt in length that regulate the expression of their target genes in a post-transcriptional manner. In this study, we used a miRNA microarray chip to identify, for the first time, 137 miRNAs in normal tissue adjacent to the thymoma from TAMG patients that were significantly dysregulated compared with normal thymus controls. We confirmed the differential expression of miR-125a-5p in larger samples using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Using bioinformatics analysis, we identified the foxp3 3' untranslated region (UTR) as a target of miR-125a-5p. Importantly, miR-125a-5p expression exhibited a negative correlation with foxp3 expression in normal tissue adjacent to the thymoma from TAMG patients. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the expression of the foxp3 gene was modulated by miR-125a-5p in Jurkat cells. Taken together, our results suggest that the abnormal expression of miR-125a-5p and its effect on foxp3 expression are likely involved in the pathogenesis of TAMG.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, No. 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning 530021, China. Electronic address: lijinpin009@163.com.
authors.forename: Jinpin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, No. 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning 530021, China. Electronic address: qiudi.happy@163.com.
authors.forename: Di
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, No. 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning 530021, China.
authors.forename: Zezhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, No. 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning 530021, China.
authors.forename: Weiwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, No. 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning 530021, China.
authors.forename: Jingli
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, No. 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning 530021, China.
authors.forename: Xuean
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Mo
mesh_terms: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions / Q000235:genetics; D002465:Cell Movement; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D019295:Computational Biology; D015536:Down-Regulation; D005260:Female; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D019169:Jurkat Cells; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D046228:Microarray Analysis; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000235:genetics*; D013945:Thymoma / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors; C498833:Foxp3 protein, mouse; C531888:MIRN125 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: Foxp3; MiR-125a-5p; Myasthenia gravis (MG); Thymoma