Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Dec 4;4(12):1989-97.
doi: 10.3390/jcm4121954.

Relevance of Rabbit VX2 Tumor Model for Studies on Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A MicroRNA-Based Study

Rajagopal N Aravalli  1 , Erik N K Cressman  2
Affiliations

Relevance of Rabbit VX2 Tumor Model for Studies on Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A MicroRNA-Based Study

Rajagopal N Aravalli et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

MicroRNAs are small (~22 nt), noncoding RNA molecules that have critical cellular functions in proliferation, differentiation, angiogenesis and apoptosis. miRNA expression profiling has been used to create signatures of solid tumors and, in many cases, it has been shown to correlate with the severity of the disease. The rabbit VX2 tumor model has been used widely to study a number of human cancers. Our objective in this study is to generate an miRNA signature of the VX2 tumor and to identify miRNAs that are highly expressed in this aggressive tumor. In this study, we performed miRNA profiling of the rabbit VX2 tumor using a microarray that has probes for 1292 unique miRNAs. Their expression in tumor samples was quantified and analyzed. We found that 35 miRNAs were significantly up-regulated in the VX2 tumor. Among these, 13 human miRNAs and eight members of the let-7 family were previously identified in cancers. In addition, we show that the expression of three miRNAs (miR-923, miR-1275, and miR-1308) is novel for the rabbit VX2 tumor, and their expression was not previously shown to be associated with any type of cancer. For the first time, we show the miRNA signature profile for a solid tumor in a rabbit model. miRNAs highly expressed in the VX2 tumor may serve as novel candidates for molecular biomarkers and as potential drug targets.

Keywords: VX2 tumor; animal model; biomarker; hepatocellular carcinoma; microRNA.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Expression of let-7 family of miRNAs in rabbit VX tumors. miRNA microarray contained 17 sequences (including variants) of human let-7 family members. Of these, only eight were up-regulated in the tumor samples used in this study. Signal intensities of each miRNA were calculated after normalizing the expression levels with positive controls. Data are presented as mean ± SD of triplicate samples.
Figure 2
Figure 2
MicroRNAs upregulated in rabbit VX2 tumors that have been implicated previously in various human cancers. Signal intensities of each miRNA were calculated after normalizing the expression levels with positive controls. Data are presented as mean ± SD of triplicate samples.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Novel miRNAs up-regulated in rabbit VX2 tumors. Signal intensities of each miRNA were calculated after normalizing the expression levels with positive controls. Data are presented as mean ± SD of triplicate samples.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Aravalli R.N., Golzarian J., Cressman E.N.K. Animal models of cancer in interventional radiology. Eur. Radiol. 2009;19:1049–1053. doi: 10.1007/s00330-008-1263-8. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Virmani S., Rhee T.K., Ryu R.K., Sato K.T., Lewandowski R.J., Mulcahy M.F., Kulik L.M., Szolc-Kowalska B., Woloschak G.E., Yang G.Y., et al. Comparison of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α expression before and after transcatheter arterial embolization in rabbit VX2 liver tumors. J. Vasc. Interv. Radiol. 2008;19:1483–1489. doi: 10.1016/j.jvir.2008.06.017. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Easty D.M., Easty G.C. Establishment of an in vitro cell line from the rabbit VX2 carcinoma. Virchows Arch. B Cell Pathol. Incl. Mol. Pathol. 1982;39:333–337. doi: 10.1007/BF02892859. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Calin G.A., Croce C.M. MicroRNA signatures in human cancers. Nat. Rev. Cancer. 2006;6:857–866. doi: 10.1038/nrc1997. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bartel D.P. MicroRNAs: Genomics, biogenesis, mechanism, and function. Cell. 2004;116:281–297. doi: 10.1016/S0092-8674(04)00045-5. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources