Comparative evaluation of serum expression of hsa-miR-27a-5p and hsa-miR-449a as regulators of MAPK pathway in women with breast cancer and healthy women

Abstract

Epigenetic factors such as non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) play an important role in regulating gene expression. microRNAs (miRNAs) as a type of ncRNAs are effective in post-transcriptional gene regulation. Recent research has investigated their biogenesis, regulatory mechanisms, their role in diseases, and their potential as therapeutics. miRNAs as biomarkers can provide less invasive and more specific methods for tumor monitoring and be considered as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers with important clinical applications. Methods and Materials: To identify miRNAs with significant expression differences, two miRNAs were selected from the combination of serum microarray data analysis of women with breast cancer and miRNAs related to the MAPK pathway from mirpath DIANA and miRPathDB databases. Then, by extracting RNA and synthesizing cDNA from 100 serum samples of women with breast cancer and 100 serum samples of healthy women, the expression level of miR-27a-5p and miR-449a was measured by real-time PCR. Statistical analysis of expression difference, biomarker and correlation of two miRNAs was done and their role in regulating cellular processes was determined by enrichment analysis. Results: The expression levels of miR-27a-5p and miR-449a are increased in the serum of women with breast cancer, and these miRNAs are capable of distinguishing patients from healthy individuals. Correlation analysis showed a positive relationship between these two miRNAs, and with enrichment analysis, their role in regulating cellular processes, signaling pathways and cancer progression was investigated.