Circulating plant miRNAs can regulate human gene expression in vitro

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 6; no. 1; pp. 32773 - 9
• Main Authors: Pastrello, Chiara, Tsay, Mike, McQuaid, Rosanne, Abovsky, Mark, Pasini, Elisa, Shirdel, Elize, Angeli, Marc, Tokar, Tomas, Jamnik, Joseph, Kotlyar, Max, Jurisicova, Andrea, Kotsopoulos, Joanne, El-Sohemy, Ahmed, Jurisica, Igor
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 08-09-2016; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 13/109; 38/77; 38/90; 631/337/384/331; 631/67/2195; 82; Blood; Brassica; Brassica oleracea; Cancer; Disease prevention; Gene expression; Humanities and Social Sciences; MicroRNAs; miRNA; multidisciplinary; Nutrigenomics; Prevention; Science; Vegetables
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep32773

While
Brassica oleracea
vegetables have been linked to cancer prevention, the exact mechanism remains unknown. Regulation of gene expression by cross-species microRNAs has been previously reported; however, its link to cancer suppression remains unexplored. In this study we address both issues. We confirm plant microRNAs in human blood in a large nutrigenomics study cohort and in a randomized dose-controlled trial, finding a significant positive correlation between the daily amount of broccoli consumed and the amount of microRNA in the blood. We also demonstrate that Brassica microRNAs regulate expression of human genes and proteins
in vitro
, and that microRNAs cooperate with other Brassica-specific compounds in a possible cancer-preventive mechanism. Combined, we provide strong evidence and a possible multimodal mechanism for broccoli in cancer prevention.