title: Comprehensive characteristics of microRNA expression profile of equine sarcoids.
abstract: Equine sarcoids are the most common neoplasms occurring in horses. Despite frequent occurrence, they are still not well described at the molecular level. Thus, in the present study, we performed a comprehensive comparative analysis of sarcoid miRNAome profile to identify aberrantly expressed microRNAs, along with their structural variants, potentially useful as biomarkers and, in a wider perspective, broaden the knowledge about this tumor and underlying mechanisms. To this end, we conducted next generation sequencing and as a result we identified both known and potentially novel miRNAs. Differential expression analysis revealed the existence of almost one hundred miRNAs being over- or underexpressed in sarcoids in comparison to healthy tissue (p-adj<0.05), of which many are known for their involvement in processes crucial for neoplastic transformation. Among upregulated miRNAs there were those associated with decreased cell adhesion abilities as well as engaged in global protein production, while downregulation of some miRs i.a. increased cell expansion abilities. Moreover, we identified altered expression levels of miRNA variants (isomiRs) between the investigated tissues. Further analysis revealed that 5' isomiRs comprise different seed sequences leading to target gene switching followed by activation of different biological pathways. Our results are the first which revealed the complexity of microRNA profiles in equine sarcoids and skin tissue, along with the dynamism of their growing in importance concomitants, namely isomiRs. They also showed miRNA molecules and biological pathways important from the sarcoid oncogenesis point of view.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Genomics, Department of Animal Genomics and Molecular Biology, National Research Institute of Animal Production, Krakowska 1, 32-083, Balice, Poland. Electronic address: klaudia.pawlina@izoo.krakow.pl.
authors.forename: Klaudia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pawlina
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Genomics, Department of Animal Genomics and Molecular Biology, National Research Institute of Animal Production, Krakowska 1, 32-083, Balice, Poland. Electronic address: artur.gurgul@izoo.krakow.pl.
authors.forename: Artur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gurgul
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Genomics, Department of Animal Genomics and Molecular Biology, National Research Institute of Animal Production, Krakowska 1, 32-083, Balice, Poland. Electronic address: tomasz.szmatola@izoo.krakow.pl.
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Szmatoła
authors.affiliation: Swiss Institute of Equine Medicine ISME, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bern and Agroscope, Länggassstrasse 124c, Postfach 8466, CH-3001, Bern, Switzerland. Electronic address: christoph.koch@vetsuisse.unibe.ch.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.affiliation: Swiss Institute of Equine Medicine ISME, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bern and Agroscope, Länggassstrasse 124c, Postfach 8466, CH-3001, Bern, Switzerland; Equine Clinic: Surgery and Radiology, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Free University of Berlin, Oertzenweg 19b, 14163, Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: Kathrin.Maehlmann@fu-berlin.de.
authors.forename: Kathrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mählmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Reproduction, Institute of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agriculture, Al. Mickiewicza 21, 31-120, Krakow, Poland. Electronic address: m.witkowski@ur.krakow.pl.
authors.forename: Maciej
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Witkowski
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Genomics, Department of Animal Genomics and Molecular Biology, National Research Institute of Animal Production, Krakowska 1, 32-083, Balice, Poland. Electronic address: monika.bugno@izoo.krakow.pl.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bugno-Poniewierska
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D006736:Horses; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000662:veterinary*; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: Horse; NGS; Sarcoid; isomiR; microRNA