title: Arsenic-exposed Keratinocytes Exhibit Differential microRNAs Expression Profile; Potential Implication of miR-21, miR-200a and miR-141 in Melanoma Pathway.
abstract: Long-term exposure to arsenic has been linked to cancer in different organs and tissues, including skin. Here, non-malignant human keratinocytes (HaCaT) were exposed to arsenic and its effects on microRNAs (miRNAs; miR) expression were analyzedviamiRCURY LNA array analyses. A total of 30 miRNAs were found differentially expressed in arsenic-treated cells, as compared to untreated controls. Among the up-regulated miRNAs, miR-21, miR-200a and miR-141, are well known to be involved in carcinogenesis. Additional findings confirmed that those three miRNAs were indeed up-regulated in arsenic-stimulated keratinocytes as demonstrated by quantitative PCR assay. Furthermore, bioinformatics analysis of both potential cancer-related pathways and targeted genes affected by miR-21, miR-200a and/or miR-141 was performed. Results revealed that miR-21, miR-200a and miR-141 are implicated in skin carcinogenesis related with melanoma development. Conclusively, our results indicate that arsenic-treated keratinocytes exhibited alteration in the miRNAs expression profile and that miR-21, miR-200a and miR-141 could be promising early biomarkers of the epithelial phenotype of cancer cells and they could be potential novel targets for melanoma therapeutic interventions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Border Biomedical Research Center, the University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Ave. El Paso, Texas, 79968, USA.
authors.forename: Horacio
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.affiliation: Cytometry, Screening and Imaging Core Facility, Border Biomedical Research Center, Department of Biological Sciences, the University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas, 79968, USA; College of Optometry, University of Houston, 4901 Calhoun Road, Houston, Texas, 77204, USA.
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lema
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Border Biomedical Research Center, the University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Ave. El Paso, Texas, 79968, USA.
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Kirken
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Border Biomedical Research Center, the University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Ave. El Paso, Texas, 79968, USA.
authors.forename: Rosa A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Maldonado
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Border Biomedical Research Center, the University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Ave. El Paso, Texas, 79968, USA; Cytometry, Screening and Imaging Core Facility, Border Biomedical Research Center, Department of Biological Sciences, the University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas, 79968, USA.
authors.forename: Armando
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Varela-Ramirez
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Border Biomedical Research Center, the University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Ave. El Paso, Texas, 79968, USA; Cytometry, Screening and Imaging Core Facility, Border Biomedical Research Center, Department of Biological Sciences, the University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas, 79968, USA.
authors.forename: Renato J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Aguilera
keywords: Arsenite; cancer; carcinogenesis; miR-141; miR-200a; miR-21; miRNA-based cancer therapy; skin cancer