Description
As recently reported by our group, we performed miRNA and gene expression profiling of CD34+ hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) isolated from 42 PMF patient samples compared with 31 healthy controls. Integrative analysis of these profiles by means of Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) allowed the identification of several aberrantly regulated miRNA-mRNA target pairs organized in interaction networks. In particular, our results highlighted the up-regulation of miR-494-3p in CD34+ cells from PMF patients (Norfo R et al, Blood, 2014). Interestingly, among the most upregulated miRNAs, miR-494-3p emerges as being associated to the highest number of downregulated target mRNAs. In order to understand the biological role of miR-494-3p during the hematopoietic commitment and differentiation, we overexpressed this miRNA in cord blood (CB) derived-CD34+ cells. Cells were electroporated with either miR-494-3p miRNA mimic (mimic miR-494) or a negative control mimic (mimic Neg CTR). qRT-PCR confirmed miR-494-3p overexpression 24h and 4 days after transfection (RQ SEM, 512.60 137.37, p<.01, and 20.63 3.03, p<.01, respectively).