Integrated analysis of colorectal cancer microRNA datasets: identification of microRNAs associated with tumor development

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Currently, no effective early diagnostic biomarkers are available for colorectal carcinoma. Therefore, there is a need to discover new molecules able to identify pre-cancerous lesions. Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been associated with the onset of specific pathologies, thus the identification of miRNAs associated to colorectal cancer may be used to detect this pathology at early stages. On these bases, the expression levels of miRNAs were analyzed to compare the miRNAs expression levels of colorectal cancer samples and normal tissues in several miRNA datasets. This analysis revealed a group of 19 differentially expressed miRNAs. To establish the interaction between miRNAs and the most altered genes in CRC, the mirDIP gene target analysis was performed in such group of 19 differentially expressed miRNAs. To recognize miRNAs able to activate or inhibit genes and pathways involved in colorectal cancer development, DIANA-mirPath prediction analysis was applied. Overall, these analyses showed that the up-regulated hsa-miR-183-5p and hsa-miR-21-5p, and the down-regulated hsa-miR-195-5p and hsa-miR-497-5p were directly related to colorectal cancer through the interaction with the Mismatch Repair pathway and Wnt, RAS, MAPK, PI3K, TGF-beta and p53 signaling pathways involved in cancer development.