Coordinated aberrant expression of miRNAs in colon cancer

Applying the method of multiple parallel sequencing on the MiSeq platform (Illumina, United States), a comparative analysis of miRNA expression in tumor and normal colon tissue cells was performed. Forty miRNAs aberrantly expressed in cancer were detected. Among them, 15 and 25 miRNAs showed increased and decreased expression, respectively, for all or most of the cases. Sixteen miRNA clusters were identified, which showed a coordinated or incompletely coordinated aberrant expression in colorectal cancer cells. In two (miR-183/182 and miR-106b/25) and four (miR-143/145, miR-497/195, miR-30e/30c-1, and miR-30a/30c-2) miRNA clusters, respectively, a statistically significant coordinated increase or decrease in expression was registered for all miRNAs within the corresponding cluster. Three aberrantly expressed well-known miRNAs (miR-100-5p, miR-30d-5p, and miR-204-5p) were identified, which, however, had never before been associated with colorectal cancer. The obtained results demonstrate the potential and promising application of 6 miRNA clusters with coordinated aberrant expression as markers for colorectal cancer.