Identification and characterization of microRNAs associated with somatic copy number alterations in cancer

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are key molecules that regulate biological processes such as cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis in cancer. Somatic copy number alterations (SCNAs) are common genetic mutations that play essential roles in cancer development. Here, we investigated the association between miRNAs and SCNAs in cancer. We collected 2538 tumor samples for seven cancer types from The Cancer Genome Atlas. We found that 32−84% of miRNAs are in SCNA regions, with the rate depending on the cancer type. In these regions, we identified 80 SCNA-miRNAs whose expression was mainly associated with SCNAs in at least one cancer type and showed that these SCNA-miRNAs are related to cancer by survival analysis and literature searching. We also identified 58 SCNA-miRNAs common in the seven cancer types (CC-SCNA-miRNAs) and showed that these CC-SCNA-miRNAs are more likely to be related with protein and gene expression than other miRNAs. Furthermore, we experimentally validated the oncogenic role of miR-589. In conclusion, our results suggest that SCNA-miRNAs significantly alter biological processes related to cancer development, confirming the importance of SCNAs in non-coding regions in cancer.