Co-Regulated Expression of TGF-β Variants and miR-21 In Bladder Cancer

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate a potential alteration in the expression levels of transforminggrowth factor β (TGF-β) and miR-21 in bladder cancer tissues.Material and Methods: Using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method, weexamined a potential correlated expression of miR-21 and TGF-β variants in 30 bladdertumors and their marginal/non-tumor biopsy specimens obtained from the same patients.Results: Our data revealed a significant down-regulation of TGF-β variants (P = .03) alongwith a non-significant alteration in the expression of miR-21 in tumor vs. non-tumor samples.However, in contrast to low-grade tumors, the expression of miR-21 was upregulatedin high-grade ones, and the expression level can efficiently discriminate low-grade tumorsfrom high-grade ones (P = .03).Conclusion: In accordance to the observed similarity between TGF-β variants and miR-21gene expression alterations in bladder tumors, treating 5637 bladder cancer cell line withTGF-β recombinant protein caused a significant upregulation of miR-21. The later findingfurther confirmed a correlated expression of TGF-β and miR-21 in bladder tumors.

Keywords

• biological markers
• analysis
• urinary bladder neoplasms
• miR-21
• TGF-β
• gene expression profiling