Overexpression of hsa-miR-939 follows by NGFR down-regulation and apoptosis reduction.

Neurotrophin receptors play a crucial role in neuronal survival, differentiation and regeneration. Nerve growth factor receptor (NGFR) or P75NTR is a neurotrophin receptor that is involved in many pathological conditions including cancers. Genetic factors that are involved in regulation of neurotrophin receptors are under intense investigation. MiRNAs are novel regulators of signalling pathways that are candidates for regulation of neurotrophin receptors. Computational programs predicted that NGFR gene is a bona fide target for hsa-miR- 939. RT-qPCR, Western analysis and dual luciferase assay evidences indicated that NGFR transcript is targeted by hsa-miR-939. Also, hsa-miR-939 overexpression brought about down-regulation of NGFR expression in U87 cell line, followed by cell death rate reduction, detected by flow cytometry. Taken together, here for the first time, hsa-miR-939 is introduced as a novel key regulator of NGFR expression and its involvement in cell death/survival processes is suggested.