• MiR-340-5p involved in Trastuzumab Resistance in Breast Cancer through upregulating MET
  • Farzaneh Karimi,1 Ahmad Ghafarpour ,2 Kazem Dastjerdi ,3,*
    1. Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
    2. Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran.
    3. Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran


  • Introduction: Introduction: Breast cancer is the most frequent leading cause of cancer-related mortality among females worldwide. Although trastuzumab provides pivotal clinical benefits for human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) positive breast cancer patients, its efficacy is often limited by the emergence of chemoresistance. Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that microRNAs significantly contribute to anti-cancer drug resistance. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the role of miR-340-5p in trastuzumab resistance in HER2-positive breast cancer cell lines using the bioinformatics approaches to propose suitable therapeutic methods to overcome trastuzumab resistance.
  • Methods: Materials and Methods: Potential target genes were detected using TargetScan and miRDB databases. STRING website and Cytoscape software were also used for investigating gene-gene interactions. Moreover, to provide the generated modules of the selected genes Gephi software was used. Eventually, we investigate the target gene expression in trastuzumab-resistant and trastuzumab-sensitive breast cancer cell lines using PCR.
  • Results: Results: Our findings revealed that the downregulation of miR-340-5p in breast cancer trastuzumab-resistant cell line can upregulate MET in comparison to trastuzumab-sensitive cell line.
  • Conclusion: Conclusions: To sum up, the current study reported that upregulation of miR-340-5p or downregulation of its target gene MET can reverse trastuzumab resistance in breast cancer. Therefore, this method might be a novel strategy to overcome trastuzumab resistance in HER2-positive breast cancer.
  • Keywords: MiR-340-5p, MET, Trastuzumab Resistance, Breast Cancer