The role of miR-142-3p in the progression of human melanoma and identification of its targets

• Grant number: 16/25565-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2017
• End date: December 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Molecular Biology
• Principal Investigator: Miriam Galvonas Jasiulionis
• Grantee: Júlia de Aveiro Morata
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Melanoma is a cutaneous neoplasia derived from melanocytes, being the most serious and lethal among skin cancers, besides presents high treatment refraction. Several molecules are involved with melanoma development, among them, microRNAs (miRNAs; miRs). These small RNAs, of approximately 22 nucleotides, act as a gene expression regulator, preventing translation of mRNA to protein or degrading mRNAs. About 30 to 60% of human genes are regulated by miRNAs, showing their importance at cellular homeostasis. MiRNAs were described as important regulators of several cellular processes, as cellular development, division and apoptosis. Therefore, they are crucial for melanoma progression and enhancing its metastatic capacity. Previous data of our group shows that decreased expression of miRNA-142-3p is associated to a bad prognostic in patients with melanoma, being a promising target of study. Beside, several genes are predicted as targets of this miRNA, for example RAC-1 gene, described as a driver-gene for melanoma genesis. In this context, the objectives of this project are: 1) analyze miRNA-142-3p expression in human primary melanocytes, radial growing (RGP) melanoma cells, vertical growing (VGP) and metastatic; 2) evaluate the effect of miRNA-142-3p overexpression in malignant phenotype of human melanoma cells and 3) identify target-genes of miRNA-142-3p. (AU)