Identification and Functional Characterization of Somatic Mutations in Human MicroRNAs and their Responsive Elements in Target Genes in Ovarian Tumor Tissues
Abstract
Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) continues to be the leading cause of the death among gynecological malignancies, owing to the lack of preventive strategies, early diagnostic methods or effective therapies. Detailed understanding of molecular changes, such as, somatic mutations, in ovarian cancer holds the promise of greatly contributing to the understanding of ovarian cancer pathogenesis, with obvious implications in development of new biomarkers, prevention strategies and therapy Micro-RNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous non-coding ~22 nucleotide (nt) RNAs, whose expression appears to be elevated in normal tissues, compared to in tumors, suggesting that silencing of miRNA may be a hallmark of human cancers. MiRNA misexpression might be due to genetic mutations in miRNA genes and their responsive elements in target genes. To test this hypothesis, in the past year, we identified 7 genetic mutations in 50 selected human miRNA genes and their responsive elements in target genes in 75 OC tumor tissues. Their correlations with clinical outcome under investigation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA508403
Entities
People
- Hua Zhao
Organizations
- Health Research, Incorporated