The Role of microRNA-15A in the Development of Prostate Cancer – Effects on Cell Proliferation and Pro-Inflammatory Signalling

Abstract

Worldwide prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among men after lung cancer. MicroRNAs are non-coding, endogenous RNAs and they play a role in tumorigenesis, RNA silencing and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. In this study we have investigated microRNA-15a impact on transcription factors cMYB and ETS1 in prostate-carcinoma cell line PC3. The PC3 cells were transfected with a synthetic analogue and inhibitor of microRNA-15a. The study was performed using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and flow cytometry methods for assessing the transcript and protein levels of cMYB and ETS1, NFκB stable reporter live cell line. Statistical analysis was performed using One–way ANOVA test. We found that cMYB and ETS1 are up-regulated by the synthetic analogue of microRNA-15a at the transcription and protein level. Transfection with microRNA-15a mimic resulted in NFκB transcription factor activation as found by using the live cell reporter system. There was some opportunistic activity exhibited by the synthetic inhibitor, but less pronounced. Our data suggest that microRNA-15a could participate in prostate cancer progression by modulating cell proliferation and pro-inflammatory signaling and paves a way for further in-depth investigation of the gene regulatory networks underneath.

Keywords

• microrna-15a
• prostate cancer
• transcription factors cmyb
• ets1
• nfκb