Following removal of 6 low-quality samples, we used 138 patients (AEGIS-1) as a discovery set to identify four miRNAs (miR-146a-5p, miR-324-5p, miR-223-3p, and miR-223-5p) that were downregulated in the bronchial airway of lung cancer patients (ANOVA <i>P</i> < 0.002, FDR < 0.2).
To this end, we investigated the involvement of miR‑223 in erlotinib resistance, using two pairs of TKI-sensitive or resistant cell lines, PC9 vs PC9/ER, and HCC827 vs HCC827/ER, as well as PC9/CD133+, which are lung cancer stem-like cells derived from PC9 cells.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs, which are involved in tumor initiation and progression. miR‑223 is a tumor suppressor miRNA that has been reported in various types of cancer, including lung cancer.
In addition, the NF-κB inhibitor JSH-23 was used to detect the relationship between NF-κB and miR-223. miR-223 was upregulated in human lung cancer A549 cells when compared with BEAS-2B cells.
Our study demonstrates for the first time that platelet-secreted miR-223 via P-MVs can promote lung cancer cell invasion via targeting tumor suppressor EPB41L3.
These include miR-301, miR-183/96/182, miR-126, and miR-223, which are microRNAs deregulated in other tumor types as well; and other miRNAs, such as miR-374 and miR-210, not previously reported in association with lung cancer.