Diabetic polyneuropathy (DPN) is a common but irreversible neurodegenerative complication of diabetes mellitus. Here we show that features of sensory neuron damage in mice with chronic DPN may have altered epigenetic micro RNA (miRNA) transcriptional control. We profiled sensory neuron messenger RNA and miRNA profiles in mice with type I diabetes mellitus and findings of DPN. Diabetic sensory d...

To date, little evidence of miRNA expression/deregulation in multiple myeloma has been reported. To characterize miRNA in the context of the major multiple myeloma molecular types, we generated miRNA expression profiles of highly purified malignant plasma cells from 40 primary tumors. Furthermore, transcriptional profiles, available for all patients, were used to investigate the occurrence of m...

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common endocrine malignancy. RET/PTC rearrangement is the most common genetic modification identified in this category of cancer, increasing proliferation and dedifferentiation by the activation of the RET/PTC-RAS-BRAF-MAPK-ERK signaling pathway. Recently, let-7 miRNA was found to reduce RAS levels, acting as a tumor suppressor gene. Circulating miR...

miRNAs are small noncoding RNAs capable of regulating gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. A growing body of evidence demonstrated that let-7 family of miRNAs, as one of the highly conserved miRNAs, plays an important role in cell differentiation and development, as well as tumor suppressor function depending on their levels of expression. To explore the physiological significance...

miRNAs are important regulators of gene expression that are frequently deregulated in cancer, with aberrant DNA methylation being an epigenetic mechanism involved in this process. We previously identified miRNA promoter regions active in normal mammary cell types and here we analyzed which of these promoters are targets of aberrant DNA methylation in human breast cancer cell lines and breast tu...

In animals, the double-stranded RNA-specific endonuclease Dicer produces two classes of functionally distinct, tiny RNAs: microRNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs). miRNAs regulate mRNA translation, whereas siRNAs direct RNA destruction via the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway. Here we show that, in human cell extracts, the miRNA let-7 naturally enters the RNAi pathway, which sugges...

microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles are often characteristic of specific cell types. The mouse mammary epithelial cell line, Comma-Dbeta, contains a population of self-renewing progenitor cells that can reconstitute the mammary gland. We purified this population and determined its miRNA signature. Several microRNAs, including miR-205 and miR-22, are highly expressed in mammary progenitor cells...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are incorporated into miRNP complexes and regulate protein expression post-transcriptionally through binding to 3'-untranslated regions of target mRNAs. Here we describe a recapitulation of let-7 miRNA-mediated translational repression in a cell-free system, which was established with extracts prepared from HEK293F cells overexpressing miRNA pathway components. In this system...