Characterization of EBV Encoded MicroRNA miR-BART3 in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Cells

• Main Authors: Yi An Tai, 戴怡安
• Other Authors: H. C. Chen
• Format: Others
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/64977498022198208115

碩士 === 長庚大學 === 生物醫學研究所 === 101 === Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignancy of the human nasopharynx epithelial cells. Studies indicated that EBV infection is closely associated with NPC and suggested that products derived from EBV genome are involved in the pathogenesis of NPC. Previously, our laboratory used the next generation sequencing technology to profile the expression patterns of EBV microRNAs and discovered that the EBV-encoded microRNA miR-BART3 was expressed at high level in NPC tissues.We established a lentiviral-based miR-BART3-expression system in EBV-negative NPC cells. We also used locked nucleic acid (LNA)-modified miR-BART3 antisense oligonucleotide to suppress the levels of miR-BART3 in EBV-positive NPC cells. The effect of miR-BART3 on cell migration and invasion were analyzed using both gain- and loss-of-function approaches. A spontaneous tumor metastasis model was used to evaluate the role of miR-BART3 in NPC tumor invasion and metastasis in vivo. Computational prediction identified several putative targets for miR-BART3-3p clustering in the migration-related pathways and suggested that miR-BART3-3p may be involved in the migration and invasion of NPC. Ectopic expression of miR-BART3-3p significantly increased migration and invasion capability of cultured NPC cells. In contrast, treatment of LNA-modified anti-sense oligo of miR-BART3-3p significantly suppressed the migration and invasion capabilities in EBV-positive NPC cells. In vivo spontaneous tumor metastasis model also showed that miR-BART3 promoted tumor migration and invasion capability of NPC.Our data showed that miR-BART3-3p enhanced NPC cell migration and invasion and suggested that miR-BART3-3p may play an important role in NPC metastasis. Therefore, inhibition of miR-BART3-3p expression may provide a potential strategy for NPC treatment.