A catalogue of glioblastoma and brain MicroRNAs identified by deep sequencing

Glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive primary brain tumor. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a set of noncoding RNA of about 20∼22 nt in length and they play regulatory roles such as regulating the expression of proteins. Altered miRNA expression is related to cancers, including glioblastoma. In this report, we used deep sequencing to explore the miRNA profiles of glioblastoma and normal brain tissues. We found 875 and 811 known miRNA and miRNA* in glioblastoma and normal brain tissue, respectively, representing the largest characterization of the miRNAs in GBM so far. 33 of them were upregulated in glioblastoma, including miR-21, which is well known as an oncomir, while 40 of them were downregulated. Using miR-10b, miR-124, miR-433, and miR-92b as examples, we verified the data by quantitative RT-PCR, suggesting that deep sequencing was able to capture the expression profiles of miRNAs. In addition, we found 18 novel miRNA and 16 new miRNA* in glioblastoma and normal brain tissues. This report provides a useful resource for future studies of the roles of miRNAs in the pathogenesis and early detection of glioblastoma.