3rd International Conference on Chemo and BioInformatics, Kragujevac, September 25-26. 2025. (pp. 296-299)
АУТОР(И) / AUTHOR(S): Zorana Dobrijević, Sanja Goč, Suzana Matijašević Joković, Dušanka Savić-Pavićević, Olgica Nedić, Goran Brajušković
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DOI: 10.46793/ICCBIKG25.296D
САЖЕТАК / ABSTRACT:
Circulatory microRNAs are among the most extensively studied biomarker candidates for prostate cancer (PCa) diagnosis and monitoring through liquid biopsy. Besides their biomarker significance, regulatory properties of cell-free microRNAs became a subject of broader interest of researchers involved in the field of molecular basis of PCa. A set of circulatory microRNAs (miR-21-5p, miR-141-3p and miR-375-3p) was frequently reported as potentially valuable biomarker panel for PCa diagnosis and/or prognosis, including the extracellular vesicle (EV)-derived fraction. Since EVs act as major mediators of intercellular communication, the aim of the present study was to investigate functional properties of this microRNA panel via an in silico analysis. MicroRNA-mRNA network was constructed by using miRNet 2.0 with validated targets, while KEGG pathway and Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis were used for exploring key biological processes (BP), cellular components (CC), and molecular functions (MF). KEGG pathway analysis revealed that the most enriched pathways are cancer-related, including the ‘pathways in cancer’ and ‘prostate cancer’. The BP analysis highlighted enrichment in terms related to cell cycle progression and cell division, EGFR signalling and intracellular protein transport and degradation. In the MF category, the potential targets of these microRNAs were predominantly linked to activation of signalling pathways, including nucleotide binding, kinase activity and ligase activity. After cross analysing the target gene list with the downregulated differentially expressed genes in PCa from TCGA database, 70 genes remained at cross section, with the largest GO enrichment effect determined for ‘Positive regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor production’ process. A broader protein-protein interaction (PPI) network constructed using STRING data identified 12 hub genes, which are concentrated on two cancer- related pathway terms: ‘pathways in cancer’ and ‘proteoglycans in cancer’. The presented results of bioinformatics analysis illustrate the biological relevance and highlight the potential functions of selected microRNA panel, supporting their possible roles as both biomarkers and regulators of malignant phenotype in PCa.
КЉУЧНЕ РЕЧИ / KEYWORDS:
prostate cancer, microRNA, extracellular vesicles, gene ontology
ПРОЈЕКАТ / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
This research is funded by the Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation, Republic of Serbia, Contract No: 451-03-136/2025-03/200019.
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