Mature podocytes are highly differentiated cells with several characteristic phenotypic features that are involved in the glomerular filtration function. During kidney development, a series of changes of the morphological characteristics and cellular functions may happen in podocytes. The miR-200 family functions in various biological and pathological processes. But the underlying molecular mec...

BACKGROUND Although many studies have confirmed a relationship between microRNAs (miRNAs) and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), the real-time dynamics of miRNA function have not been examined. METHODS miRNA reporter constructs were generated using a recombinant adeno-associated virus vector, which contained complementary sequences for six miRNAs (miR-200a, miR-200b, miR-21, miR-146a, miR-155, and miR...

BACKGROUND A functional role of microRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) in neoplasia and metastasis is becoming clear, and the miR-200 family has received much attention for potentially regulating tumor progression. The miRNAs of this family have been shown to suppress epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and their down-regulation in some tumors promotes invasion and metastasis. Interestingly, while miR-200 i...

BACKGROUND Non-coding circular RNAs (circRNAs) have displayed dysregulated expression in several human cancers. Here, we profiled the circRNA expression of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) tumors to improve our understanding of PTC pathogenesis. METHODS Microarray profiling was performed on 18 thyroid samples, consisting of six PTC tumors, six matching contralateral normal samples, and six b...

Intestinal fibrosis is one of the major serious complications of Crohn's disease (CD). However, there are no effective antifibrotic drugs to treat intestinal fibrosis in CD. Therefore, it is important to understand the pathogenesis of fibrosis in CD. It has been reported that members of the miR-200 family are essential in the regulation of renal fibrogenesis. In this study, we analyzed the func...

A growing number of studies have highlighted the role of microRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) in the development and progression of cancer. In particular, the aberrant expression of cancer-related proteins, such as oncogenes and tumor suppressors has been shown to correlate with the modulation of the expression of specific miRNAs. In the present study, we aimed to determine which downregulated miRNAs may...

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of renal tubular epithelial cells is a vital mechanism of renal fibrosis. Mounting evidence suggests that miR-200a expression decreases in tubular epithelial cells in unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) rats. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that Huai Qi Huang (HQH) can ameliorate tubulointerstitial damage in adriamycin nephrosis and delay kidney dysf...

The TMPRSS2-ERG fusion occurs in approximately 50% of prostate cancer (PCa), resulting in expression of the oncogenic ERG in the prostate. Because ERG is a transcriptional activator, we hypothesized that ERG-regulated genes contribute to PCa development. Since microRNA (miRNA) has crucial functions in cancer, we searched for miRNAs regulated by ERG in PCas. We mined published datasets based on ...

There is epidemiological, animal and in vitro evidence that estrogen receptor β (ERβ) can mediate protective effects against colon cancer, but the mechanism is not completely understood. Previous research has indicated critical pathways whereby ERβ acts in an antitumorigenic fashion. In this study, we investigate ERβ's impact on the microRNA (miRNA) pool in colon cancer cells using large-scale ...

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is characterized by deregulated activation of T and B cells, autoantibody production, and consequent formation of immune complexes. Liposomes with nonbilayer phospholipid arrangements (NPA), induced by chlorpromazine, procainamide, or manganese, provoke a disease resembling human lupus when administered to mice. These mice produce anti-NPA IgM and IgG antibodi...