MicroRNA (miRNA/miR) dysfunction is a hallmark of lung cancer, and results in the dysregulation of tumor suppressors and oncogenes during lung cancer progression. Selection of the 5p and 3p arms of miRNA is a mechanism that improves the modulation of miRNA biological functions and complicates the regulatory network in human types of cancer. However, the involvement of arm selection preference of miRNA in lung cancer remains unclear. In the present study, changes in miRNA arm selection preference were comprehensively identified in lung cancer and corresponding adjacent normal tissues by analyzing The Cancer Genome Atlas. Arm selection was revealed to be consistent in the majority of miRNAs in lung cancer. Only a few miRNAs had significantly altered arm selection preference in lung cancer. Among these, the biological functions of the individual arms of miR-324 were investigated further. The data revealed that miR-324-5p and -3p were significantly overexpressed in lung cancer cells. Ectopic expression of miR-324-5p significantly promoted cell proliferation and invasion in lung cancer cells, while miR-324-3p overexpression significantly increased cell proliferation but did not alter the invasion of lung cancer cells. In conclusion, the arm selection preference of miRNA may be an additional mechanism through which biological functions are modulated. The results of the present study provide a novel insight into the underlying mechanisms of lung cancer and may direct research into future therapies.
Keywords: arm selection preference; lung cancer; microRNA; microRNA-324; next-generation sequencing; the cancer genome atlas.