Bioinformatics analysis of the expression and role of microRNA-221-3p in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract

Background Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most common cancer worldwide, associated with a high rate of morbidity and mortality. However, the target genes of miR-221-3p and the underlying mechanism involved in HNSCC are still not clear. Therefore, in the current study, we studied the role of miR-221-3p in the HNSCC. Methods Tissues collected from 48 control and 21 HNSCC patients were processed to check the differential expression of miR-221-3p by RT-qPCR. Overexpression of microRNA-221-3p (miR-221-3p) is significantly correlated to the onset and progression of HNSCC. We also conducted the meta-analysis of the cancer literature from the cancer genome atlas (TCGA) and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database to estimate the expression of miR-221-3p in HNSCC. The miR-221-3p target genes in the HNSCC were predicted with the miRWalk and TCGA databases, and functionally annotated via the Gene Ontology. Finally, Spearman’s analysis was used to determine the role of the related target genes in important pathways involved in the development of HNSCC. Results We observed a significantly higher expression of miR-221-3p in HNSCC compared to the normal with a summary receiver operating characteristic (sROC) of 0.86(95% Cl: 0.83,0.89). The KEGG and GO comprehensive analysis predicted that miR-221-3p might be involved in the development of HNSCC through the following metabolic pathways, viz. Drug metabolism - cytochrome P450 UGT1A7 and MAOB may be important genes for the role of miR-221-3p. Conclusion Based on bioinformatics analysis, our results indicate that miR-221-3p may be used as a non-invasive and hypersensitive biomarker in the diagnosis. Thus, it can be concluded that miR-221-3p may be an extremely important gene locus involved in the process of the deterioration and eventual tumorigenesis of HNSCC. Hopefully, additional work will validate its usefulness as a target for future clinical research.

Interference Reduction Biosensing Strategy for Highly Sensitive microRNA Detection

“…Microarrays and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) are typical instrumental methods for miRNA detection. − However, these techniques have their limitations, such as the requirement of rapid thermal cycling, reliance on large-scale instrumentation, and susceptibility to contamination. , In order to address these issues, recent studies on miRNA detection have explored the use of biosensors based on advanced functional materials and isothermal nucleic acid amplification techniques. Such studies include rolling circle amplification (RCA) with SYBR Green I luminescence detection, Exonuclease III-assisted signal amplification and detection by mass spectrometry, , strand-displacement signal amplification (SDA) with luminescence detection, exponential amplification reaction (EXPAR) with biotin capture and luminescence imaging, hybridization chain reaction with luminescence inner filter effects using silicon nanoparticles, and nicking endonuclease signal amplification induced by G-quadruplex formation coupled with MoS 2 quantum dot-based FRET detection .…”