An integrated analysis of miRNA, lncRNA, and mRNA expression profiles

Increasing amounts of evidence indicate that noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) have important roles in various biological processes. Here, miRNA, lncRNA, and mRNA expression profiles were analyzed in human HepG2 and L02 cells using high-throughput technologies. An integrative method was developed to identify possible functional relationships between different RNA molecules. The dominant deregulated miRNAs were prone to be downregulated in tumor cells, and the most abnormal mRNAs and lncRNAs were always upregulated. However, the genome-wide analysis of differentially expressed RNA species did not show significant bias between up- and downregulated populations. miRNA-mRNA interaction was performed based on their regulatory relationships, and miRNA-lncRNA and mRNA-lncRNA interactions were thoroughly surveyed and identified based on their locational distributions and sequence correlations. Aberrantly expressed miRNAs were further analyzed based on their multiple isomiRs. IsomiR repertoires and expression patterns were varied across miRNA loci. Several specific miRNA loci showed differences between tumor and normal cells, especially with respect to abnormally expressed miRNA species. These findings suggest that isomiR repertoires and expression patterns might contribute to tumorigenesis through different biological roles. Systematic and integrative analysis of different RNA molecules with potential cross-talk may make great contributions to the unveiling of the complex mechanisms underlying tumorigenesis.