GSE64744
Small RNA profiling reveals deregulated PTEN/PI3K/Akt pathway in asthmatic bronchial smooth muscle cells
Background: Aberrant expression of small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs), in particular microRNAs (miRNAs) and PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) define several pathological processes. Asthma is characterized by airway hyper-reactivity, chronic inflammation and airway wall remodeling. Asthma-specific miRNA profiles were reported for bronchial epithelial cells, but no information on sncRNA expression in asthmatic bronchial smooth muscle (BSM) cells is available. Objective: To determine whether primary BSM sncRNA expression profile is altered in asthma and identify targets of differentially expressed sncRNAs. Methods: SmallRNA sequencing was used for sncRNA profiling in BSM cells (8 asthma, 6 non-asthma). sncRNA identification and differential expression analysis was performed with iMir, . experimentally validated miRNA targets were identified with Ingenuity Pathway Analysis and putative piRNA targets with miRanda. Results: Asthmatic BSM cells showed abnormal expression of 32 sncRNAs (26 miRNAs, 5 piRNAs, and 1 snoRNA). Target prediction for deregulated miRNAs and piRNAs revealed experimentally validated and predicted mRNA targets expressed in the BSM cells. 38 of these mRNAs represent major targets for deregulated miRNAs and may play important roles in the pathophysiology of asthma. Interestingly, 6 such miRNAs were previously associated with asthma and/or considered as novel therapeutic targets for treatment of this disease. Signaling pathway analysis revealed involvement of these sncRNAs in increased cell proliferation via PTEN and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways. Conclusions: BSM cells from asthma patients are characterized by aberrant sncRNA expression that recapitulates multiple pathological phenotypes of these cells. Implications: sncRNA expression profiling performed in this study further improve our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying asthma-associated processes in lungs. Overall design: SmallRNA and mRNA profiles of primary bronchial smooth muscle cells from 8 asthmatic and 6 healthy donors were generated by deep sequencing using Illumina HiSeq1500 and NextSeq respectively.