Identifying key miRNAs and mRNAs involved in EMT in papillary thyroid carcinoma using bioinformatics techniques

The most common type of thyroid cancer is papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), whichaccounts for approximately ۸۵% of differentiated thyroid tumors. The five-year survival rate for patientswith PTC is ۹۷%; however, if the tumor is aggressive, this rate decreases significantly[۱,۲]. The presentstudy examined critical miRNAs involved in PTC. A non-coding array dataset (GSE۱۱۳۶۲۹) wasobtained from the GEO database, and miRNA-seq data for PTC was obtained from the TCGA databaseusing the TCGAbiolinks package[۳]. The Limma[۴] and edgeR[۵] packages analyzed the differentiallyexpressed miRNAs (DEMs) in PTC and normal thyroid tissues. A list of all miRNAs involved in EMTwas compiled using the EMT database. By comparing DEMs with EMT miRNAs, common DEMs wereidentified with ggvenn package. Using the miRDB and miRTarBase databases, we predicted mRNAtargets for common DEMs. In order to analyze the predicted mRNAs further, those known to play asignificant role in EMT were selected. A miRNA-mRNA regulatory network was constructed. Thediagnostic ability of miRNAs was assessed by performing ROC analysis on tumor and normal samples.Among the six DEMs, four were associated with the EMT pathway, namely miR-۲۲۱, miR-۳۷۵, miR-۳۴a, and miR-۲۲۲. It was found that miR-۲۲۱-۳p and miR-۲۲۲-۳p regulate seven common target genes,including: BBC۳, MDM۲, ETS۱, CDKN۱B, DICER۱, TRPS۱, and ESR۱. Four miRNAs also targetedthe KIT gene. As a potential biomarker for PTC, there is a candidate regulatory mRNA-miRNA networkwhose members are all involved in the EMT pathway.

کلیدواژه ها:

Papillary thyroid carcinoma ، Regulatory Network ، EMT Pathway