MicroRNAs 29b, 34a and 145 expression in prostatic cell lines exposed to extracellular matrix componentes

• Grant number: 13/22742-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 01, 2014
• End date: December 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Morphology - Cytology and Cell Biology
• Principal Investigator: Flávia Karina Delella
• Grantee: Bruno Martinucci
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IBB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The prostate is a gland of the male genital system, found only in mammals, whose main function is to produce part of seminal fluid. Prostatic lesions occur most commonly in middle-aged men and prostate cancer (PCa) is the most commonly diagnosed among men in America and in Western Europe. The interactions between epithelial tissue and the surrounding stroma are responsible for maintaining physiological organ function. Such interactions provide proliferative and migratory restraints that define anatomical and positional information, mediated by growth factors and extracellular matrix components. When cancer develops, transformed cells lose these restrictions, while the stroma adapts to support the "function" of the tumor. Recent findings suggest that human tumors have epigenetic changes such as unregulated expression of microRNAs, molecules considered new oncogenes, or tumor suppressors, which may be useful as biomarkers for tumor diagnosis, prognosis, and staging. Considering the importance of integrity between the epithelial and stromal components for the maintenance of prostate homeostasis and the effects of the unbalance of the epithelial-mesenchymal interactions in the development of diseases, seems extremely important to evaluate the expression of microRNAs that regulate extracellular matrix components, and the Connective Tissue Growth Factor (CTGF) expression in normal human prostate cells lines and a prostate tumor cells in a medium containing fibronectin, collagen I or matrigel. For this, metastatic prostate tumor cells (LNCaP) and normal immortalized prostate cells (RWPE-1), will be exposed to the extracellular matrix components such as fibronectin, collagen I, and Matrigel, and will be held cell viability test, gene expression analysis of microRNAs 29b, 34a and 145 through the qRT-PCR, and protein expression analysis of the CTGF using the technique of western blotting. (AU)