MicroRNAs are small 19-25
nucleotides which have been shown to play important roles in the regulation of gene expression in many organisms. Downregulation or accumulation of
miRNAs implies either
tumor suppression or oncogenic activation. In this study, differentially expressed
hsa-miR-195 in
hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was identified and analyzed. The prediction was done using a consensus approach of tools. The validation steps were done at two different levels in silico and in vitro. FGF7, GHR, PCMT1, CITED2, PEX5, PEX13, NOVA1, AXIN2, and TSPYL2 were detected with high significant (P < 0.005). These genes are involved in important pathways in
cancer like MAPK signaling pathway, Jak-STAT signaling pathways, regulation of actin cytoskeleton, angiogenesis, Wnt signaling pathway, and
TGF-beta signaling pathway. In vitro target validation was done for
protein-L-isoaspartate (D-aspartate) O-methyltransferase (PCMT1). The co-transfection of pmirGLO-PCMT1 and pEGP-miR-195 showed highly significant results.
Firefly luciferase was detected using Lumiscensor and t test analysis was done.
Firefly luciferase expression was significantly decreased (P < 0.001) in comparison to the control. The low expression of
firefly luciferase validates the method of target prediction that we used in this work by working on PCMT1 as a target for miR-195. Furthermore, the rest of the predicted genes are suspected to be real targets for
hsa-miR-195. These target genes control almost all the hallmarks of
liver cancer which can be used as therapeutic targets in
cancer treatment.