AUTHOR=Leventakou Danai , Gouloumi Alina-Roxani , Spathis Aris , Pouliakis Abraham , Koufopoulos Nektarios , Pergialiotis Vassilios , Drakakis Peter , Panayiotides Ioannis G. , Kottaridi Christine 

TITLE=Expression profile of miRNAs computationally predicted to target PDL-1 in cervical tissues of different histology groups

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cell-and-developmental-biology/articles/10.3389/fcell.2023.1101041

DOI=10.3389/fcell.2023.1101041

ISSN=2296-634X

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> Human papilloma virus (HPV) is considered a successful pathogen as it has the ability to evade host immune responses and establish long-term persistent infection. It has been reported that programmed death ligand 1 (PDL-1) expression is correlated with HPV-positivity and is increased with lesion progression or tumor metastasis in cervical cancer. The expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) is often deregulated in cancer, and their potential targets are affected.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> RNA was extracted from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) cervical samples of different histological types, previously typed for the presence of HPV. A specific quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) protocol with SYBR Green was used to check for the expression of four miRNAs that were computationally predicted to target PDL-1.</p><p><bold>Results and conclusion:</bold> hsa-miR-20a-5p and hsa-miR-106b-5p showed an expression increase with the severity of the lesions, while hsa-miR-125b-5p depicted a significant decrease in its expression in cancerous samples when compared to normal samples.</p>