Figure 1.
Microphotographs (×200) of a representative TNBC case.
A: Hematoxylin-eosin staining. B–D: Immunohistochemical detection for ER, PR and HER-2, respectively. This case is negative for ER, PR and HER-2 (triple negative).
Figure 2.
miRNA differential expression in TNBC versus normal breast tissues.
Hierarchical clustering of the 41 miRNAs with a significantly different expression. Rows, individual miRNAs; columns, individual tissue samples. Pseudocolors represent transcript levels above, equal to, and below the mean (red, black, and green, respectively). The scale represents the intensity of miRNA expression (log2 scale ranges between −9 and 5).
Figure 3.
qRT-PCR validation of miRNAs microarray results in TNBCs.
Relative expression of miRNAs in TNBCs compared with their adjacent normal tissues by qRT-PCR. miR-10b-5p, miR-451a, miR-125b-5p, miR-31-5p, miR-195-5p, miR-130a-3p were down-regulated in cancer samples, whereas miR-155-5p, miR-21-3p, miR-181a-5p, miR-181b-5p and miR-183-5p were up-regulated. Dots, normalized ratio of miRNA expression values (TNBC/adjacent normal tissues).
Figure 4.
Network among the specific deregulated miRNAs and their predicted targets in this study.
Table 1.
Chemoresistance-related miRNAs of the 11 selected miRNAs.
Figure 5.
Up-regulation of miR-130a-3p or miR-451a significantly changed MDA-MB-231 cells sensitivity to doxorubicin.
A: Expression levels of miR-130a-3p or miR-451a were evaluated in different cell lines by qRT-PCR (** P<0.01; *** P<0.001, compared to MCF 10A). B: During doxorubicin treatment, miR-130a-3p or miR-451a were significantly down-regulated in MDA-MB-231 cells, respectively (*** P<0.001, compared to vehicle control). C–D: Cells viability and cells apoptotic rate were analyzed by the cell counting kit-8 assay and flow cytometry, respectively (### P<0.001, compared to vehicle control; * P<0.05, ** P<0.01, compared to Doxo group). All the results were obtained from three independent experiments. Doxo, doxorubicin.