Previous profile studies of miRNA expression levels have revealed that miR-320a was downregulated in breast cancer, colon cancer, bladder cancer, glioblastoma and salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma.
However, upon enrichment for the small RNA population and subsequent analysis of miR-320a using RT-qPCR, its dysregulation in breast cancer patients was more pronounced with an 8.89-fold decrease in miR-320a expression.
To investigate the role of miR-320a in the development of resistance to tamoxifen, we established tamoxifen-resistant (TamR) models by continually exposing MCF-7 or T47D breast cancer cells to tamoxifen, and identified microRNA(miRNA)-320a as a down-regulated miRNA in tamoxifen resistant cells.