Analysis of differentially expressed miRNA in early esophageal squamous cancer and normal esophageal tissues

HAO Zhi-peng; TANG Lang; WANG Peng; DENG Yu; CAI Yi-xin; ZHANG Ni; LI Wei-na

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1006-5725.2016.04.005

Abstract：Objective To investigate the expression profiles of microRNA in early esophageal squamous cancer and normal esophageal tissues and verify the significantly different expression miRNAs , further to study the effects on proliferation of EC109. Methods The microarray assay was performed to analyze miRNA expression profiles in three pairs of early esophageal squamous cancer and the corresponding normal esophageal tissues. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used in another 38 pairs samples to further verify the differentially expressed miRNAs . Three verified miRNAs ( miR-29a, miR-221 and miR-222) mimics were transfected into EC109 respectively and CCK8 method was used to study the effect of cell proliferation in each miRNA. Results Microarray technique selected 53 miRNAs that differentially expressed in early esophageal squamous cancer and normal esophageal tissues , 32 miRNAs were up-regulated and 21 miRNAs were down-regulated. qRT-PCR verified that miR-29a was significantly down-regulated (P < 0.05) and miR-221, miR-222 were significantly up-regulated (P < 0.05) in early esophageal squamous cancer tissue. Over-expression of miR-29a could significantly inhibit the proliferation of EC109 (P < 0.05) whereas over-expression of miR-221 or miR-222 could both significantly promote the proliferation of EC109 (P < 0.05). Conclusion There was significant difference of miRNAs expression between early esophageal squamous cancer and normal esophageal tissues, and the differentially expressed miRNAs could be used as new biomarkers for early diagnosis of esophageal squamous cancer.