Identification of microRNA-regulated pathways using an integration of microRNA-mRNA microarray and bioinformatics analysis in CD34+ cells of myelodysplastic syndromes

The effect of microRNA (miRNA) and targeted mRNA on signal transduction is not fully understood in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Here, we tried to identify the miRNAs-regulated pathways through a combination of miRNA and mRNA microarray in CD34+ cells from MDS patients. We identified 34 differentially expressed miRNAs and 1783 mRNAs in MDS. 25 dysregulated miRNAs and 394 targeted mRNAs were screened by a combination of Pearson’s correlation analysis and software prediction. Pathway analysis showed that several pathways such as Notch, PI3K/Akt might be regulated by those miRNA-mRNAs pairs. Through a combination of Pathway and miRNA-Gene or GO-Network analysis, miRNAs-regulated pathways, such as miR-195-5p/DLL1/Notch signaling pathway, were identified. Further qRT-PCR showed that miR-195-5p was up-regulated while DLL1 was down-regulated in patients with low-grade MDS compared with normal controls. Luciferase assay showed that DLL1 was a direct target of miR-195-5p. Overexpression of miR-195-5p led to increased cell apoptosis and reduced cell growth through inhibition of Notch signaling pathway. In conclusion, alteration expression of miRNAs and targeted mRNAs might have an important impact on cancer-related cellular pathways in MDS. Inhibition of Notch signaling pathway by miR-195-5p-DLL1 axis contributes to the excess apoptosis in low-grade MDS.