Roles of MicroRNAs in Tumor Progression

MicroRNAs play critical roles in tumor progression at various stages. We are particularly interested in the roles of microRNAs in cancer stem cells in tumor metastasis. Our results revealed that different microRNAs promote metastasis of cancer stem cells in organ and stage specific manners.

We also clarified how the expressions of these microRNAs are regulated through interaction with microenvironmental cells.

Selected publications

Sachdeva, M., Zhu, S., Wu, F., Wu, H., Walia, V., Kumar, S., Elble, R., Watabe, K., and Mo, Y.-Y. (2009) p53 represses c-Myc through induction of the tumor suppressor miR-145. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 106, 3207

Okuda, H., Xing, F., Pandey, P.R., Sharma, S., Watabe, M., Pai, S.K., Mo, Y.-Y., Iiizumi-Gairani, M., Hirota, S., and Watabe, K. (2013) miR-7 suppresses brain metastasis of cancer stem-like cells by modulating Kruppel-like factor 4 in breast cancer. Cancer Res. 73, 1434 (Cover story) (citation in Discover Magazine as top 100 science discovery in 2013)

Xing, F., Sharma, S., Liu, Y., Mo Y., Wu K., Mo Y., Pochampally R., Lo, H.W., and Watabe, K. (2015) miR509 suppresses brain metastasis of breast cancer cells by modulating RhoC and TNF alpha. Oncogene. In press