Comprehensive analysis of the differential cellular and EBV miRNA expression profiles in mature T and NK cell...

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been detected in several subtypes of Mature T and NK cell lymphomas. However, the impact of EBV status on the survival and the mechanism is still unknown. Numerous recent investigations have demonstrated that the EBV-encoded microRNAs (EBV-miRNAs) were associated with the development and prognosis of lymphoma. We used a miRNA microarray to identify the differentially expressed miRNAs in 175 Mature T and NK cell lymphomas including 5 subtypes. The result demonstrated that all the samples could be divided into three groups according to the relative expression of EBV-miRNAs, and the prognosis of the three groups was significantly different (P < 0.05). We also found that there were 72 differential cellular miRNAs with 11 up-regulated and 61 down-regulated miRNAs in the group with poorer prognosis compared with the group with better prognosis. GO and KEGG pathway analysis indicated that genes targeted by the upregulated miRNAs were significantly enriched in multiple tumor-related pathways including MAPK signaling pathway, Wnt signaling pathway, Focal adhesion and ErbB signaling pathway, while genes targeted by the downregulated miRNAs were significantly enriched in Axon guidance and VEGF signaling pathway. The current findings demonstrated that the higher expression of EBV-miRNA was related to shorter overall survival, and the signaling pathways enriched in the group with EBV infection could provide theoretical basis for the potential target therapy of the Mature T and NK cell lymphoma.