NR AWMU
AU Saba,R.; Booth,S.A.
TI Micro-RNA (MIRNA) expression in the brain during prion infections
QU International Conference - Prion 2006: Strategies, advances and trends towards protection of society - 3.10.-6.10.2006, Torino, Italy, Lingotto Conference Centre - Poster sessions PA-46
PT Konferenz-Poster
AB MicroRNAs (miRNA) are genome encoded RNA molecules approximately 22 nucleotides in length that recognize target mRNA(s) through base-pairing and thereby regulate their expression. MiRNAs have gained recent prominence as imporatant gene-regulatory molecules in the eukaryotic genome. Concurrently, a role for miRNAs in proliferative diseases has also been widely speculated upon as a result of abnormal expression. In this study, we investigated the expression of miRNAs during prion induced neurodegeneration in order to gain further insight into prion pathobiology. Employing a combination of both microarray technology and multiplex real-time PCR, we profiled the expression of miRNAs in whole brains of VM mice treated with mouse-adapted scrapie strain 22A. We identified miRNAs that showed marked differences in their expression when prion treated mice were compared to age-matched control mice. We determined the lineage specificity of some of these differentially expressed miRNAs and subsequently identified their potential mRNA targets. MiRNAs represent a new layer of regulatory mechanism for gene expression. Through binding of a minimal recognition sequence, miRNAs repress the expression of nearly a third of the metazoan protein-coding mRNAs. They are involved in a wide range of basic processes such as cell proliferation, development, apoptosis and stress response. The elucidation of how global miRNA expression responds to disease processes is imperative to gain further understanding of the disease so that novel molecular prognostic and diagnostic markers of the disease may be identified. Additionally, abnormally expressed miRNAs may themselves serve as potential areas of therapeutic intervention either through knockout or over-expression strategies. In this study, we showed evidence for the deregulation of miRNAs during prion induced neurodegeneration and we proposed hypotheses for biological effects caused by changes in miRNA abundance.
AD R. Saba: Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3E 0W3; S.A. Booth: Division of Host Genetics and Prion Diseases, Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, R3E 3R2. E-mail: Reuben_Saba@phac-aspc.gc.ca
SP englisch
PO Italien