Co-modulated behavior and effects of differentially expressed miRNA in colorectal cancer

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short noncoding RNAs (approximately 22 nucleotides in length) that play important roles in colorectal cancer (CRC) progression through silencing gene expression. Numerous dysregulated miRNAs simultaneously participate in the process of colon cancer development. However, the detailed mechanisms and biological functions of co-expressed miRNA in colorectal carcinogenesis have yet to be fully elucidated. Results: The objective of this study was to identify the dysfunctional miRNAs and their target mRNAs using a wetlab experimental and dry-lab bioinformatics approach. The differentially expressed miRNA candidates were identified from 2 miRNA profiles, and were confirmed in CRC clinical samples using reported target genes of dysfunctional miRNAs to perform functional pathway enrichment analysis. Potential target gene candidates were predicted by an in silico search, and their expression levels between normal and colorectal tumor tissues were further analyzed using real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). We identified 5 miRNAs (miR-18a, miR-31, miR-96, miR-182, and miR-224) and 10 miRNAs (miR-1, miR-9, miR-10b, miR-133a, miR-143, miR-137, miR-147b, miR-196a/b, and miR-342) that were significantly upregulated and downregulated in colon tumors, respectively. Bioinformatics analysis showed that the known targets of these dysregulated miRNAs simultaneously participated in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), cell growth, cell adhesion, and cell cycles. In addition, we identified that several pivotal target gene candidates may be comodulated by dysfunctional miRNAs during colon cancer progression. Finally, 7 candidates were proven to be differentially expressed, and had an anti-correlationship with dysregulated miRNA in 48 CRC samples. Conclusion: Fifteen dysfunctional miRNAs were engaged in metastasis-associated pathways through comodulating 7 target genes, which were identified by using a multi-step approach. The roles of these candidate genes are worth further exploration in the progression of colon cancer, and could potentially be targets in future therapy.