The role of miRNA in the progression of GIST

为了更好地了解异常表达的miRNA及其靶基因在胃肠道间质瘤（GIST）生物学中的作用，我们检测了miRNA表达特征。通过miRNA芯片我们发现包括miR-133 b在内的几种miRNA在高级别GIST中表达下调。实时定量RT-PCR结果显示，Fascin-1 mRNA在高级别GIST中表达上调，而miR-133 b表达下调。然后，我们通过免疫组织化学染色检测了fascin-1蛋白的表达，发现fascin-1过表达与较短的无病生存时间和几个侵袭性病理因素（包括风险等级）显著相关。我们的研究结果提示fascin-1的miR-133条带过表达下调可能在GIST的发生发展中起重要作用，fascin-1可能是一个有用的生物标志物和有希望的分子治疗靶点。

To better understand the role of aberrantly expressed miRNAs and their target genes affecting the biology of gastrointestinal stromal tumor(GIST), we examined miRNA expression signature. By miRNA array we found that several miRNAs, includingmiR-133b, were down-regulated in high-grade GISTs. Subsequently, quantitative real-time RT-PCR revealed that fascin-1mRNA was up-regulated in accordance with miR-133bdown-regulation in high grade GIST. We then examined the fascin-1 protein expression by immunohistochemical staining, and found that fascin-1 overexpression was significantly correlated with shorter disease-free survival time and several aggressive pathological factors, including risk grade. Our results suggest that down-regulation ofmiR-133band overexpression of fascin-1 may play an important role in the progression of GIST, and that fascin-1 may be a useful biomarker and a promising molecular therapeutic target.