Identifying downstream targets of microRNA-181a in chondrosarcoma cells.

microRNAs are small (22-24 nucleotide), non-coding RNA transcripts that play a role in RNA silencing and post transcriptional regulation of gene expression. They have been implicated to have profound roles in many cancers. The role of microRNAs in chondrosarcoma progression is not well understood. Our lab has identified miR-181a to be up-regulated in chondrosarcoma. miR-181a modulates CXCR4 signaling by targeting RGS-16, leading to increased levels of VEGF and MMP-1, major factors in tumor invasion. In an effort to identify other targets of miR-181a apart from RGS-16, we carried out a gene array to compare gene expression between untreated/control CS-1(chondrosarcoma cell line) cells and CS-1 cells transduced with a lenti virus expression construct with anti-miR-181a sequence.

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