Construction of constitutive expression systems of microRNAs from the genomic region DLK1-DIO3 with putative tumor suppressor role

Resumo

Thyroid carcinoma is the most common endocrine cancer in the world. Over the last years attention has been focused on the role of microRNAs (miRs), small non-coding RNAs molecules, in the tumoral thyroid cell biology, especially in the diagnosis and prognosis of the papillary histotype (PTC). In a recent study of the group, the expression of miRs from the DLK1-DIO3 genomic region has been shown to be decreased in PTC. Importantly, distinct members from this genomic region have already been described as tumor suppressor miRs in several types of cancer. The aim of the project herein was to identify, based on target prediction and gene enrichment analysis, candidate miRs with tumor suppressor potential and to generate DNA plasmid constructions. MiR-495-3p and miR-485-5p were identified as the candidates with the highest tumor suppressor potential role in PTC among more than 50 miRs from the DLK1-DIO3 region. The construction of expression systems containing the miRs was performed based in mollecular clonning methodology and will certainly contribute to further functional validation of the role of these miRs in PTC.