MicroRNA 125a and its regulation of the p53 tumor suppressor gene

• Published in: FEBS letters Vol. 583; no. 22; pp. 3725 - 3730
• Main Authors: Zhang, Yingjie, Gao, Jin-Song, Tang, Xiaoli, Tucker, Lynne D., Quesenberry, Peter, Rigoutsos, Isidore, Ramratnam, Bharat
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier B.V 19-11-2009
• Subjects: 3' Untranslated Regions - genetics; Apoptosis; Blotting, Northern; Blotting, Western; Cell Line; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Proliferation; Cell Survival; DNA damage; Gene Expression Regulation; Humans; MicroRNA; MicroRNAs - genetics; p53; Protein Biosynthesis; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA Interference; Transfection; Tumor suppressor; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 - genetics; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 - metabolism; MicroRNA; RNA interference; Tumor suppressor; DNA damage; p53; Apoptosis
• ISSN: 0014-5793; 1873-3468
• DOI: 10.1016/j.febslet.2009.10.002

MicroRNA (miRNA) are a class of non-coding RNA that suppress gene expression by degradation or translational inhibition of target RNA. Several miRNA have been shown to target oncogenes and recently miRNA-125b was shown to translationally and transcriptionally inhibit the p53 gene. Here, we show that an additional isomer of miRNA-125 (miRNA-125a) translationally arrests mRNA of the p53 tumor suppressor gene. The basis of this activity is the high degree of sequence homology between the seed sequence of miR-125a and the 3′-UTR of p53. Our findings add miRNA-125a to the growing list of miRNA with oncogenic targets.