Expression deregulation of mir31 and CXCL12 in two types of oral precancers and cancer: importance in progression of precancer and cancer

Oral cancer generally progresses from precancerous lesions such as leukoplakia (LK), lichen planus (LP) and oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF). Since few of these precancers progress to cancers; it is worth to identify biological molecules that may play important roles in progression. Here, expression deregulation of 7 miRNAs (mir204, mir31, mir31*, mir133a, mir7, mir206 and mir1293) and their possible target genes in 23 cancers, 18 LK, 12 LP, 23 OSMF tissues compared to 20 healthy tissues was determined by qPCR method. Expression of mir7, mir31, mir31* and mir1293 was upregulated and that of mir133a, mir204 and mir206 was downregulated in cancer. Expression of most of these miRNAs was also upregulated in LK and LP tissues but not in OSMF. Expression deregulation of some of the target genes was also determined in cancer, LK and LP tissues. Significant upregulation of mir31 and downregulation of its target gene, CXCL12, in cancer, LK and LP tissues suggest their importance in progression of precancer to cancer. Expression upregulation of mir31 was also validated using GEO data sets. Although sample size is low, novelty of this work lies in studying expression deregulation of miRNAs and target genes in oral cancer and three types of precancerous lesions.