Abstract:

Background and purpose: Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancer in Xinjiang, especially for Uygur from southern Xinjiang and its pathogenesis is not clear. MicroRNA (miRNA) is a class of small non-coding RNA playing an important regulatory role. Its expression and dysfunction is closely related to the development of tumors. In this study, we screen and preliminary analyse expression of miRNA in cervical squamous cell carcinoma samples with human papillomavirus (HPV) 16 positive of Uygur patients. The target genes of miRNA were predicted. Methods: miRNAs were pre-screened by using miRNA microarray technology in 5 cases of HPV16 positivity Uygur patients from southern Xinjiang with cervical squamous cell carcinoma. Fifteen cases specimens were examined by qRT-PCR for preliminary verification, and 83 cases of cervical cancer were detected and analysed the expression of miRNA; Targeted genes were predicted by using four softwares of target scan, miRwalk, miRanda and Pictar. Results: Eighteen differentially expressed miRNAs were selected by SAM software in 5 cases of HPV16 positivity southern Xinjiang Uygur cases with cervical squamous cell carcinoma.miRNA-138 and miRNA-720 were found expressed significantly different by initial verification. Contrasted with 40 normal cases, miR-138 and miR-720 were down-regulated in 83 Uygur patients from southern Xinjiang with cervical squamous cell carcinoma (P<0.05), and correlated with lymph node matastasis and vascular invasion (P<0.05), no correlation with age and the range of cervical wall involvement and HPV16 (P>0.05). miRNA-720 was correlated with clinical stage and tumor size (P<0.05); And the commonly targeted gene between miRNA-138 and miRNA-720 was EZH2. Conclusion: miRNA-138 and miRNA-720 were downregulated in Uygur patients from southern Xinjiang with cervical squamous cell carcinoma, and the common target gene was EZH2.The expression of miR-720 and miR-138 were correlated with relevant risk factors of invasion and metastasis.

Key words: Uygur from southern Xinjiang, Human papillomavirus 16, Cervical squamous cell carcinoma, miRNA-138, miRNA-720