Federica Ganci1, Carmen Vico2, Etleva Korita1, Andrea Sacconi1, Enzo Gallo3, Federica Mori4, Annamaria Cambria5, Emanuele Russo6, Marco Anile6, Domenico Vitolo7, Edoardo Pescarmona3, Rosario Blandino8, Francesco Facciolo9, Federico Venuta6, Giovanni Blandino1, Mirella Marino10, Francesco Fazi11. 1. Translational Oncogenomics Unit, "Regina Elena" National Cancer Institute, Rome, Italy. 2. Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic & Orthopaedic Sciences, Section of Histology & Medical Embryology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy. 3. Department of Pathology, "Regina Elena" National Cancer Institute, Rome, Italy. 4. Molecular Chemoprevention Unit, "Regina Elena" National Cancer Institute, Rome, Italy. 5. Department of Oncology, Division of Pathology, S. Vincenzo Hospital, Taormina, Italy. 6. Department of Thoracic Surgery, Azienda Policlinico Umberto I, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy; Fondazione Eleonora Lorillard Spencer Cenci, Italy. 7. Department of Pathology, Azienda Policlinico Umberto I, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Rome, Italy. 8. Department of Oncology, Division of Oncological Surgery S. Vincenzo Hospital, Taormina, Italy. 9. Thoracic Surgery, "Regina Elena" National Cancer Institute, Rome, Italy. 10. Department of Pathology, "Regina Elena" National Cancer Institute, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: marino@ifo.it. 11. Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic & Orthopaedic Sciences, Section of Histology & Medical Embryology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: francesco.fazi@uniroma1.it.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Thymic epithelial tumors (TET) are the most frequent human primary mediastinal tumors in adults. A deep biological characterization of the processes at the basis of the transformed phenotype could strongly improve our understanding of the morphological and clinical heterogeneity of these diseases. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding RNAs involved in post-transcriptional regulation and their altered expression accounts for the pathogenesis of several tumors. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to identify the miRNAs that are differentially expressed in tumor vs normal thymic tissues or among the different tumor histotypes and that could impact on the biology of TET. MATERIALS AND METHODS: microRNAs expression profiling was performed by microarray analysis of formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue from 54 thymic tumor samples and 12 normal counterparts, derived from two patient cohorts. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: We identified groups of miRNAs differentially expressed between: (i) TET and normal thymic tissues, (ii) thymomas and thymic carcinomas, (iii) histotype groups. Moreover, we identified putative molecular pathways targeted by these differentially expressed miRNAs that could be involved in thymic carcinogenesis and in the maintenance and spreading of this tumor.
BACKGROUND: Thymic epithelial tumors (TET) are the most frequent human primary mediastinal tumors in adults. A deep biological characterization of the processes at the basis of the transformed phenotype could strongly improve our understanding of the morphological and clinical heterogeneity of these diseases. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding RNAs involved in post-transcriptional regulation and their altered expression accounts for the pathogenesis of several tumors. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to identify the miRNAs that are differentially expressed in tumor vs normal thymic tissues or among the different tumor histotypes and that could impact on the biology of TET. MATERIALS AND METHODS: microRNAs expression profiling was performed by microarray analysis of formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue from 54 thymic tumor samples and 12 normal counterparts, derived from two patient cohorts. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: We identified groups of miRNAs differentially expressed between: (i) TET and normal thymic tissues, (ii) thymomas and thymic carcinomas, (iii) histotype groups. Moreover, we identified putative molecular pathways targeted by these differentially expressed miRNAs that could be involved in thymic carcinogenesis and in the maintenance and spreading of this tumor.
Authors: Milan Radovich; Curtis R Pickering; Ina Felau; Gavin Ha; Hailei Zhang; Heejoon Jo; Katherine A Hoadley; Pavana Anur; Jiexin Zhang; Mike McLellan; Reanne Bowlby; Thomas Matthew; Ludmila Danilova; Apurva M Hegde; Jaegil Kim; Mark D M Leiserson; Geetika Sethi; Charles Lu; Michael Ryan; Xiaoping Su; Andrew D Cherniack; Gordon Robertson; Rehan Akbani; Paul Spellman; John N Weinstein; D Neil Hayes; Ben Raphael; Tara Lichtenberg; Kristen Leraas; Jean Claude Zenklusen; Junya Fujimoto; Cristovam Scapulatempo-Neto; Andre L Moreira; David Hwang; James Huang; Mirella Marino; Robert Korst; Giuseppe Giaccone; Yesim Gokmen-Polar; Sunil Badve; Arun Rajan; Philipp Ströbel; Nicolas Girard; Ming S Tsao; Alexander Marx; Anne S Tsao; Patrick J Loehrer Journal: Cancer Cell Date: 2018-02-12 Impact factor: 31.743