MicroRNA-125a promotes resistance to BRAF inhibitors through suppression of the intrinsic apoptotic pathway.

ABSTRACT: Melanoma patients with BRAF^V600E -mutant tumors display striking responses to BRAF inhibitors (BRAFi); however, almost all invariably relapse with drug-resistant disease. Here, we report that microRNA-125a (miR-125a) expression is upregulated in human melanoma cells and patient tissues upon acquisition of BRAFi resistance. We show that miR-125a induction confers resistance to BRAF^V600E melanoma cells to BRAFi by directly suppressing pro-apoptotic components of the intrinsic apoptosis pathway, including BAK1 and MLK3. Apoptotic suppression and prolonged survival favor reactivation of the MAPK and AKT pathways by drug-resistant melanoma cells. We demonstrate that miR-125a inhibition suppresses the emergence of resistance to BRAFi and, in a subset o

SUBMITTER: Koetz-Ploch L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5411293 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature