Lekha Dinesh Kumar
Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, India
Title: MicroRNAs as novel biomarkers for early diagnosis and prognosis of breast cancer
Biography
Biography: Lekha Dinesh Kumar
Abstract
OncomiRs are microRNAs which are known to be deregulated in various cancers. Since they are highly conserved between the genomes of related species, computational analysis of miRNAs would augment the experimental analysis to identify those, which are involved in the regulation of pathway genes leading to the development of cancer. Therefore a user friendly database was constructed for breast cancer which enlists the microRNAs and their respective targets, their interactions, chromosome and gene location of both human and mouse genomes. These microRNAs were validated by expression profiling in 52 individual human breast cancer samples of different grades and stages using two different array platforms, Taqman Low Density Arrays (TLDA) and Locked Nucleic acid Arrays (LNA). Our profile revealed a total of 85% down regulated and rest significantly up-regulated microRNAs. The expression profile indicated that, as breast cancer progressed from stage I to stage III, most of these miRNAs were differentially up/down regulated at least within a particular stage or grade. These unique microRNAs were further validated using Taqman individual assays in 250 human breast samples. The potential use of biomarkers in classifying the different stages or grades of cancers could revolutionize the clinical diagnosis and potential therapy.
