Exosomal miRNA423-5p mediated oncogene activity in papillary thyroid carcinoma: a potential diagnostic and biological target for cancer therapy.

WEIDONG YE, XIANZHAO DENG,  YOUBEN FAN

Abstract:

Exosomes are considered important “messengers” between cells and their cargo, and some of the miRNAs composing their cargo may be involved in oncogenic activity. Exosomal miRNA423-5p (Ex-miRNA423-5p) is upregulated in gastric cancer and associated with its poor prognosis. However, the role of exosome-derived miRNAs in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is still unclear and needs further study. In our work, we found that the level of Ex-miRNA423-5p was significantly increased in the serum of PTC patients compared with the serum of normal healthy people, and in vitro, we demonstrated that miRNA423-5p entered thyroid cancer cells through exosomes from thyroid cancer cell supernatant. Functional experiments demonstrated that overexpression of miRNA423-5p mimics in exosomes increased PTC cell migration and invasion, while the silencing of miRNA423-5p in TPC-1 cell exosomes inhibited PTC cell migration and invasion in vitro. These findings indicate that Ex-miRNA423-5p might serve as a potential tumor marker; thus, silencing miRNA423-5p in exosomes might represent a potential approach against PTC.