MicroRNA-92a regulates the development of cutaneous malignant melanoma by mediating FOXP1
Authors: Y-J Zhang
H-W Sun
X-N Zhang
G-L Yang
S-N Wang
J-X Ding
Journal: European review for medical and pharmacological sciences (2019)
Discipline: PHARMACOLOGY & TOXICOLOGY
Keywords: MicroRNA-92a; Cutaneous malignant melanoma; FOXP1; Tumor progression; Prognosis
Affiliations: Department of Dermatology, The People's Hospital of Pingliang, Pingliang, China. .

Abstract:  Objective: MicroRNAs are noncoding RNAs which are involved in the occurrence and progression of tumors. This study aims to explore the role of microRNA-92a in cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) and its underlying mechanism. Patients and methods: The expression level of microRNA-92a in 75 pairs of CMM tissues and paracancerous tissues was determined using quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR). The correlation between microRNA-92a expression with clinical data of CMM patients was analyzed. Besides, microRNA-92a expression in CMM cells and primary epidermal melanocytes (PEM) was determined by qRT-PCR as well. After transfection of si-microRNA-92a in CMM cells, biological performances of CMM were determined using cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), colony formation and transwell assay, respectively. FOXP1 expression in CMM cells and tissues was determined using Western blot. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were drawn to explore the correlation between the FOXP1 expression and prognosis of CMM patients. Results: MicroRNA-92a was highly expressed in CMM tissues compared with that of paracancerous tissues. Compared with CMM patients with lower expression of microRNA-92a, those with higher expression of microRNA-92a presented higher tumor stage, higher incidences of lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis, as well as lower overall survival. The knockdown of microRNA-92a remarkably decreased proliferative, invasive and metastatic capacities of CMM cells. Western blot results elucidated that microRNA-92a knockdown in CMM cells upregulates FOXP1 expression. Additionally, rescue experiments showed that mi-croRNA-92a regulates biological performances of CMM cells by regulating FOXP1. Conclusions: MicroRNA-92a is highly expressed in CMM, which is remarkably correlated to tumor stage and poor prognosis of CMM patients. We found that microRNA-92a pro-motes malignant progression of CMM by regulating FOXP1. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 Figure 3A appears to have two images that overlap, kindly juxtaposed so only one box was needed to illustrate. *** ![file] , 
 Some more of those thin overlaps observed in Figures 3A and 3C: ![file] , 
 This paper is part of a group of papers with a characteristic Kaplan Meier curve with a comb-like appearance. These plots all have a drop to 0 % survival at 75 months, a.k.a  Hoya s Law . Within the Comb papers, there is a subgroup of at least 9 papers that have very similar negative correlation plots. * X Shi et al., ERMPS (2019), DOI: 10.26355 eurrev_201912_19778 - https: pubpeer.com publications 3133C4267A6FBF81D00B0AF9FB9F2C * CY Yang et al., ERMPS (2019), DOI: 10.26355 eurrev_201908_18736 - https: pubpeer.com publications 04A58FD5AFBB311D1A2938B0612E1E * HG Zhang et al., ERMPS (2019), DOI: 10.26355 eurrev_201903_17239 - https: pubpeer.com publications D916E15502393940A4F3151E1D300C * JY Chen et al, ERMPS (2020), DOI: 10.26355 eurrev_202001_20040 - https: pubpeer.com publications 9266A736E004B8D7C32F6811161C1C * SS Li et al., ERMPS (2020) - DOI: 10.26355 eurrev_202002_20163 - https: pubpeer.com publications 5CDE9845135F510EC218243CD501F9 * TZ Zheng et al., ERMPS (2020) - DOI: 10.26355 eurrev_202002_20369 - https: pubpeer.com publications AF0159381E48D7937D78C948FAB379 * JB Ma et al., ERMPS (2019) - DOI: 10.26355 eurrev_201902_17108 - https: pubpeer.com publications 2EB1B6A17E9877F2D7F8FE4E117446 * HW Sun et al., ERMPS (2019)- DOI: 10.26355 eurrev_201910_19299 - https: pubpeer.com publications 937B0CAD1A01B66E854F4A6CCDA56B * K Jia et al., ERMPS (2020) - DOI: 10.26355 eurrev_202003_20508 - https: pubpeer.com publications 11550517E8A0503AFDC49D460BAD30 And here is a collage of the nine correlation plots, where I have circled some similar groupings of points. ![file] , 
 #3 Fig 1D and 4E.  Kaplan-Meier survival curves of patients with cutaneous malignant melanoma based on microRNA-92a expression. Patients in the high expression group had a significantly more favorable prognosis than those in the low expression group ...  Kaplan-Meier survival curves of patients with cutaneous malignant melanoma based on FOXP1 expression. Patients in the high expression group had a significantly more unfavorable prognosis than those in the low expression group. ![file] It is not possible for a single set of survival times to generate these two pairs of survival curves by dichomotising the subjects by different criteria. ,