LYMPHOID NEOPLASIA Differentiation stage–specific expression of microRNAs in B lymphocytes and diffuse large B-cell lymphomas

miRNAs are small RNA molecules binding to partially complementary sites in the 3 -UTR of target transcripts and repressing their expression. miRNAs orchestrate multiple cellular functions and play critical roles in cell differentiation and cancer development. We analyzed miRNA profiles in B-cell subsets during peripheral B-cell differentiation as well as in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) cells. Our results show temporal changes in the miRNA expression during B-cell differentiation with a highly unique miRNA profile in germinal center (GC) lymphocytes. We provide experimental evidence that these changes may be physiologically relevant by demonstrating that GCenriched hsa-miR-125b down-regulates the expression of IRF4 and PRDM1/ BLIMP1, and memory B cell–enriched hsa-miR-223 down-regulates the expression of LMO2. We further demonstrate that although an important component of the biology of a malignant cell is inherited from its nontransformed cellular progenitor—GC centroblasts—aberrant miRNA expression is acquired upon cell transformation. A 9-miRNA signature was identified that could precisely differentiate the 2 major subtypes of DLBCL. Finally, expression of some of the miRNAs in this signature is correlated with clinical outcome of uniformly treated DLBCL patients. (Blood. 2009;113:3754-3764)