Expression profiles of tRNA-derived fragments and their potential roles in lung adenocarcinoma

Transfer RNA-derived fragments (tRFs) and transfer RNA halves (tiRNAs) have been shown to play crucial roles in gene regulation. This study aims to reveal the expression profiles of tRFs and tiRNAs and their possible biological roles in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD).

Five paired clinical lung adenocarcinoma tissues (LAT) and adjacent normal lung tissues (ANLT) were selected to analyze the expression of tRFs and tiRNAs. Six significantly expressed tRFs and tiRNAs were selected and validated by Quantitative Real-time PCR (qPCR). Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis were performed.

The sequencing results showed that 109 tRFs and tiRNAs were differentially expressed between LAT and ANLT, out of which 60 were upregulated and 49 were downregulated. Compared with ANLT, lower expression levels of 3 tRF-1s (tRF-Ser-TGA-010, tRF-Arg-CCT-018, and tRF-Val-CAC-017) in LAT were verified by qPCR. Subsequently, the putative target genes of tRF-1s were analyzed by computational prediction and the top 10 significant results of GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis were presented.

This study has revealed the landscape of tRF and tiRNA expression profiles in LUAD. Three newly found differentially expressed downregulated tRF-1s may be involved in the pathogenesis of LUAD and may serve as potential diagnostic biomarkers, or otherwise reconcile target genes for drug development.