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Overexpression of hsa-miR-939 follows by NGFR down-regulation and apoptosis reduction

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Abstract

Neurotrophin receptors play a crucial role in neuronal survival, differentiation and regeneration. Nerve growth factor receptor (NGFR) or P75 NTR is a neurotrophin receptor that is involved in many pathological conditions including cancers. Genetic factors that are involved in regulation of neurotrophin receptors are under intense investigation. MiRNAs are novel regulators of signalling pathways that are candidates for regulation of neurotrophin receptors. Computational programs predicted that NGFR gene is a bona fide target for hsa-miR-939. RT-qPCR, Western analysis and dual luciferase assay evidences indicated that NGFR transcript is targeted by hsa-miR-939. Also, hsa-miR-939 overexpression brought about down-regulation of NGFR expression in U87 cell line, followed by cell death rate reduction, detected by flow cytometry. Taken together, here for the first time, hsa-miR-939 is introduced as a novel key regulator of NGFR expression and its involvement in cell death/survival processes is suggested.

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Abbreviations

MRE:

MiRNA recognition element

NGFR:

nerve growth factor receptor

pre-miRNAs:

precursor miRNAs

UTR:

untranslated region

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr Saman Hosseinkhani for his kind advice. This work was supported by TMU, ISTI and INSF financial aids.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular Genetics Department, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

    Fahimeh Hosseini Aghdaei, Bahram M Soltani, Sadat Dokanehiifard & Seyed Javad Mowla

  2. Hematology Department, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

    Masoud Soleimani

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  1. Fahimeh Hosseini Aghdaei
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  2. Bahram M Soltani
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  3. Sadat Dokanehiifard
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  4. Seyed Javad Mowla
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  5. Masoud Soleimani
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bahram M Soltani.

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[Aghdaei FH, Soltani BM, Dokanehiifard S, Mowla SJ and Soleimani M 2017 Overexpression of has-miR-939 follows by NGFR down-regulation and apoptosis reduction. J. Biosci.]

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Aghdaei, F.H., Soltani, B.M., Dokanehiifard, S. et al. Overexpression of hsa-miR-939 follows by NGFR down-regulation and apoptosis reduction. J Biosci 42, 23–30 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-017-9669-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-017-9669-6

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