Yang Li

Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Sheng, China

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Publications (5)18.33 Total impact

  • Article: miR-375 is down-regulated in squamous cervical cancer and inhibits cell migration and invasion via targeting transcription factor SP1.
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    ABSTRACT: Pelvic lymph node metastases are regarded as the most important risk factor and a predictor of poor prognosis for patients with cervical cancer. Exploration of metastasis-related molecules is helpful toward improving the prognosis in cervical cancer. To identify the role of miR-375 in metastasis and progression of cervical cancer, we examined the expression of miR-375 in 170 cervical cancer tissues and 68 normal cervical tissues, using stem-loop quantitative PCR, and found that the expression of miR-375 in cervical cancer tissues was significantly decreased by 4.45-fold, compared with 68 normal tissues. A significant correlation existed between miR-375 expression and clinicopathologic parameters, including lymph node metastasis of cervical cancer. Overexpressed miR-375 suppressed cell proliferation, blocked G1-to-S cell-cycle transition, and inhibited cell migration and invasion in human cervical SiHa and CaSki cells. SP1, a potential target gene of miR-375, was inversely correlated with miR-375 expression in cervical cancer tissues. Moreover, SP1 was negatively regulated by miR-375, and knockdown of SP1 by siRNA inhibited cell malignant behaviors. Thus, our findings suggest that down-regulated miR-375 promotes cell malignant behaviors via the target gene SP1 and may consequently contribute to the progression of cervical cancer.
    American Journal Of Pathology 09/2011; 179(5):2580-8. · 4.89 Impact Factor
  • Article: Identification of miR-23a as a novel microRNA normalizer for relative quantification in human uterine cervical tissues.
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    ABSTRACT: Quantitative real-time RT-PCR (RT-qPCR) is being widely used in microRNA expression research. However, few reports detailed a robust identification and validation strategy for suitable reference genes for normalisation in microRNA RT-qPCR studies. The aim of this study was to identify the most stable reference gene(s) for quantification of microRNA expression analysis in uterine cervical tissues. A microarray was performed on 6 pairs of uterine cervical tissues to identify the candidate reference genes. The stability of candidate reference genes was assessed by RT-qPCR in 23 pairs of uterine cervical tissues. The identified most stable reference genes were further validated in other cohort of 108 clinical uterine cervical samples: (HR-HPV- normal, n=21; HR-HPV+ normal, n=19; cervical intraepithelial neoplasia [CIN], n=47; cancer, n=21), and the effects of normalizers on the relative quantity of target miR-424 were assessed. In the array experiment, miR-26a, miR-23a, miR-200c, let-7a, and miR-1979 were identified as candidate reference genes for subsequent validation. MiR-23a was identified as the most reliable reference gene followed by miR-191. The use of miR-23a and miR-191 to normalize expression data enabled detection of a significant dereg-ulation of miR-424 between normal, CIN and cancer tissue. Our results suggested that miR-23a and miR-191 are the optimal reference microRNAs that can be used for normalization in profiling studies of cervical tissues; miR-23a is a novel microRNA normalizer.
    Experimental and Molecular Medicine 04/2011; 43(6):358-66. · 2.48 Impact Factor
  • Article: Progressive miRNA expression profiles in cervical carcinogenesis and identification of HPV-related target genes for miR-29.
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    ABSTRACT: miRNAs have the potential to act on diverse downstream genes, and miRNA signatures of HPV-infected tissues may provide insight into HPV-related carcinogenesis. We set out to profile miRNA expression in HPV-infected samples and relate this to histological and grade-specific alterations in the spectrum of cervical carcinogenesis in vivo. A total of 31 miRNAs showed significant and continuous expression along with the progression from normal cervical tissue to cancer, and six of them were validated in 133 samples. By bioinformatics analyses, we established a putative HPV-associated miRNA-mRNA regulatory network, showing that miR-29 is the most highly enriched. We also found that YY1 and CDK6 were both positively correlated with E6/E7 RNA expression and targeted by tumour-suppressive miR-29. Evidence of miR-29 involvement in HPV infection was further verified in patient samples and by various experimental approaches. Taken together, our results suggest that HPVs have oncogenic properties at least in part by reshaping the milieu of cellular miRNAs. miR-29 restrains cell cycle progression and induces apoptosis via YY1 and CDK6 promoting malignant transformation induced by HPV, although the abnormality of miR-29 in HPV-infected cells might be regulated in an indirect way.
    The Journal of Pathology 02/2011; 224(4):484-95. · 6.32 Impact Factor
  • Article: Identification of suitable reference genes for measurement of gene expression in human cervical tissues.
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    ABSTRACT: For quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), the most commonly used normalization strategy is to select a stable reference gene. However, no suitable reference genes have been identified in cervical tissues to date. The aim of this study was to identify the most stable gene or a set of genes as reference genes for RT-qPCR analysis in cervical tissues from a panel of 12 candidates (ALAS1, PPIA, GAPDH, HBB, TBP, ACTIN, B2M, MBNL2, PGKL, RPLP0, RPL-4, and EEF1A1). In total, 20 normal and 20 cervical cancer specimens were examined. Gene expression data were analyzed using two different statistical models (geNorm and NormFinder). EEF1A1 was identified as the most stable and reliable reference gene, followed by GAPDH and RPLP0, whereas EEF1A1 and GAPDH were the best two-gene combination by NormFinder. The expression validity of EEF1A1 was further determined in 21 normal, 22 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN(2-3)), and 18 cancer tissues; no expression differences were found among normal, CIN(2-3), and cancer tissues (P>0.05). Our results suggested that EEF1A1 can be used as a reference gene for normalization in gene profiling studies in clinic cervical samples, and the combination of EEF1A1 and GAPDH could be recommended as a much more reliable normalization strategy.
    Analytical Biochemistry 10/2010; 405(2):224-9. · 3.00 Impact Factor
  • Article: Reduced miR-34a expression in normal cervical tissues and cervical lesions with high-risk human papillomavirus infection.
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    ABSTRACT: Reduced miR-34a expression is associated with high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) infection and cervical cancer. Whether the reduction of miR-34a expression induced by HR-HPV E6 occurs in precancerous lesions, even before morphologic change, is still uncertain. Our study aimed to ascertain the possibility of pri-miR-34a involved in the development of cervical lesions and to explore the mechanism of altered pri-miR-34a expression induced by HPV-16 E6. The levels of pri-miR-34a expression were examined in different cervical tissues, including normal cervical epithelium with (n = 32) or without (n = 32) HR-HPV infection, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) with (n = 32) or without (n = 12) HR-HPV infection, and cervical cancer (n = 32), by semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The HPV-16 E6 expression vector and HPV-16 E6 small interfering RNAs were conducted and transfected into 293T cells and SiHa cells, respectively. The expression of pri-miR-34a and p53 protein was simultaneously analyzed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blot in cells with gene transfection and without. pri-miR-34a expression was significantly reduced in CIN and cervical cancer compared with normal cervical epithelium, as well as in CIN 2 and CIN 3 compared with CIN I. Moreover, the expression of pri-miR-34a was significantly lower in normal cervical epithelium and CIN with HR-HPV infection than in those without. Simultaneous down-regulation or up-regulation of pri-miR-34a and p53 expression was observed in E6-transfected 293T cells or E6 small interfering RNA-transferred SiHa cells compared with controls. Reduced expression of pri-miR-34a occurs not only in cervical cancer but also in precancerous lesion even before morphologic change. The inhibition of miR-34a expression induced by HR-HPV E6 in the p53-dependent pathway is probably an early-onset event in the development of cervical cancer.
    International Journal of Gynecological Cancer 05/2010; 20(4):597-604. · 1.65 Impact Factor