hsa-miR-122

hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)

Relationship type:

Causal

Detection method for miRNA expression:

Northern blot, qRT-PCR etc

down-regulated

Validated targets of miRNA from the reference:

Bcl-w

Validated targets of miRNA from TarBase:

CAT-1 : More...

Description:

miR-122, a hepato-specific microRNA (miRNA), is frequently down-regulated in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In an effort to identify novel miR-122 targets, we performed an in silico analysis and detected a putative binding site in the 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) of Bcl-w, an anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family member. In the HCC-derived cell lines, Hep3B and HepG2, we confirmed that miR-122 modulates Bcl-w expression by directly targeting binding site within the 3'-UTR. The cellular mRNA and protein levels of Bcl-w were repressed by elevated levels of miR-122, which subsequently led to reduction of cell viability and activation of caspase-3. Thus, Bcl-w is a direct target of miR-122 that functions as an endogenous apoptosis regulator in these HCC-derived cell lines.

Reference:

miR-122 targets an anti-apoptotic gene, Bcl-w, in human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines. | PMID:18692484
Lin CJ, Gong HY, Tseng HC, Wang WL, Wu JL.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2008 Oct 24;375(3):315-20. Epub 2008 Aug 8.