Cancer affects microRNA expression, release, and function in cardiac and skeletal muscle.

ABSTRACT: Circulating microRNAs (miRNA) are emerging as important biomarkers of various diseases, including cancer. Intriguingly, circulating levels of several miRNAs are lower in patients with cancer compared with healthy individuals. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that a circulating miRNA might serve as a surrogate of the effects of cancer on miRNA expression or release in distant organs. Here we report that circulating levels of the muscle-enriched miR486 is lower in patients with breast cancer compared with healthy individuals and that this difference is replicated faithfully in MMTV-PyMT and MMTV-Her2 transgenic mouse models of breast cancer. In tumor-bearing mice, levels of miR486 were relatively reduced in muscle, where there was elevated expression of the miR486 target genes PTEN an

SUBMITTER: Chen D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4134725 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature