A Study on Effect of Interaction Between Gene and MicroRNA in Cancer

Abstract

Our previous study indicated an altered correlation between a microRNA and its host gene in cancer. The host gene is highly likely to interact with target genes of the microRNA, and thus, a loop is formed in cancer. This study hypothesizes that the loop functions as positive feedback. Simulations using gene network in both cancerous and non-cancerous tissues were carried out to validate the hypothesis. A comparison between the simulation results and patients' data revealed that the simulations could reproduce the altered correlation, and the simulated gene expressions tended to be similar to the patients' data. This suggest that the loop functions as a positive feedback.