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Inducing apoptosis by using microRNA in radio-resistant prostate cancer: an in-silico study with an in-vitro validation

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Abstract

Background

One of the problems with radiation therapy (RT) is that prostate tumor cells are often radio-resistant, which results in treatment failure. This study aimed to determine the procedure involved in radio-resistant prostate cancer apoptosis. For a deeper insight, we devoted a novel bioinformatics approach to analyze the targeting between microRNAs and radio-resistant prostate cancer genes.

Method

This study uses the Tarbase, and the Mirtarbase databases as validated experimental databases and mirDIP as a predicted database to identify microRNAs that target radio-resistant anti-apoptotic genes. These genes are used to construct the radio-resistant prostate cancer genes network using the online tool STRING. The validation of causing apoptosis by using microRNA was confirmed with flow cytometry of Annexin V.

Results

The anti-apoptotic gene of radio-resistant prostate cancer included BCL-2, MCL1, XIAP, STAT3, NOTCH1, REL, REL B, BIRC3, and AKT1 genes. These genes were identified as anti-apoptotic genes for radio-resistant prostate cancer. The crucial microRNA that knockdown all of these genes was hsa-miR-7-5p. The highest rate of apoptotic cells in a cell transfected with hsa-miR-7-5p was (32.90 ± 1.49), plenti III (21.99 ± 3.72), and the control group (5.08 ± 0.88) in 0 Gy (P < 0.001); also, this rate was in miR-7-5p (47.01 ± 2.48), plenti III (33.79 ± 3.40), and the control group (16.98 ± 3.11) (P < 0.001) for 4 Gy.

Conclusion

The use of this new treatment such as gene therapy to suppress genes involved in apoptosis can help to improve the treatment results and increase the quality of life of patients with prostate cancer.

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Data availability

Data for this study is available from the first author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Sajjad Parvin from the University of Bremen for converting the article to the native english.

Funding

None.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Physics, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    Leili Darvish

  2. Medical Physics Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    Mohammad-Taghi Bahreyni-Toossi & Hosein Azimian

  3. Department of Medical Biotechnology and Nanotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    Seyed Hamid Aghaee-Bakhtiari

  4. Bioinformatics Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    Seyed Hamid Aghaee-Bakhtiari

  5. Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Ali Ahmadizad Firouzjaei

  6. Department of Medical Physics, Faculty of Medicine, School of Medicine, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, khorramabad, Iran

    Azadeh Amraee

  7. Department of Medical Physics, Faculty of Medicine, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran

    Ali Tarighatnia

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  1. Leili Darvish
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Correspondence to Hosein Azimian.

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This article does not encompass any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. This study was implemented by Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. The ethical code for this in vitro study was IR.MUMS.MEDICAL.REC.1400.468.

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Darvish, L., Bahreyni-Toossi, MT., Aghaee-Bakhtiari, S.H. et al. Inducing apoptosis by using microRNA in radio-resistant prostate cancer: an in-silico study with an in-vitro validation. Mol Biol Rep 50, 6063–6074 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-023-08545-8

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