Involvement of miR-31, miR-148a, & miR -221 as three risky microRNAs in the invasion and angiogenesis of glioblastoma cells via myelinated nerve fiber of white matter tracts path

Abstract Glioblastoma is one of the most frequently occurring and malignant brain tumors. Due to the importance of microRNAs and HIF1α gene that is involved in the angiogenesis and growth of tumor cells, this study aimed to evaluate the correlation of the expression of HIF1α gene with miR-148a, miR-31, and miR-221, which were reported by in silico analysis as risky microRNAs in GBM. The findings obtained from Real-Time PCR using TaqMan Assay indicated the significant difference in the expression of HIF1α gene and microRNAs between the patient and healthy groups and the expression changes were obtained point to point in the patients; so they can be considered as important biomarkers in glioblastoma. The obtained AUC from the ROC analysis indicated that the analysis of the expression of HIF1α and miR-148a, miR-31 & miR-221 genes can be used to distinguish healthy and patient groups nevertheless, the correlation of HIF1α gene expression with the microRNAs was reported low according to Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Thus the significant increase in HIF1α gene expression is probably controlled by other molecules. By using bioinformatics analysis; Gene Ontology biological process; MSigDB Hallmark and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis of PPI network was carried out with Enrichr web-based application. The axon guidance pathway, proteoglycan in cancer and some of intracellular signaling pathways identified as the most important signaling pathways. The results of MSigDB_Hallmark pathway enrichment analysis introduced hypoxia signaling pathway with less involvement from these micoRNAs. Therefore these microRNAs can be considered in Glioblastoma cell infiltration through the myelinated nerve fibers of white matter tracts.