Aim: To investigate the targets of miR-181b in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Materials & methods: The bioinformatic softwares were used to indicate the key target genes associated with miR-181b, and the results were verified in CLL patient samples and 293T cells. Results:CARD11 is a potential target gene of miR-181b, an inverse relationship was revealed between the expression of CARD11 and miR-181b in 104 CLL patients, and it was confirmed in vitro with luciferase assays and western blotting. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that CLL patients with high CARD11 expression demonstrated poor survival. Conclusion:CARD11 is a novel target of miR-181b that is upregulated, which could be a poor prognostic indicator for CLL patients.
Keywords: CARD11; bioinformatics; chronic lymphocytic leukemia; expression level; gene ontology; miR-181b; pathway; prognosis; quantitative reverse transcription-PCR; target gene.