Expression of miR-9 and miR-200c, ZEB1, ZEB2 and E-cadherin in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancers in Iran

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) exert a critical influence on physiological and pathological processes through post-transcriptional modification of their mRNA targets. They play important roles in tumorigenesis and are considered to be potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers with various cancers. MiR-200c and miR-9 are regulatory elements that can have dual impacts as oncogenes and/or tumor suppressor genes. MiR-200c regulates two transcription factors, ZEB1 and ZEB2, while miR-9 is a regulatory factor for the E-cadherin protein which has a critical function in cell-cell junctions and is inhibited by two transcription factors ZEB1 and ZEB2. In this study, expression levels of miR-200c and miR-9, ZEB-1, ZEB-2 and E-cadherin were assessed in 30 non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) by real-time qPCR. MiR-9 was down-regulated significantly in tumor tissues compared to normal adjacent tissues, while there was no significant change in expression level of miR-200c. On the other hand, ZEB1 demonstrated significant increase and ZEB2a decrease at the mRNA level. These results indicate roles for miR-9 and ZEB1 in genesis of lung cancer, although clinico-pathological associations were not evident. Further studies are necessary to assess implications for treatment of lung cancer.