MiRNAs that target amyloid precursor protein processing machinery in extracellular vesicles and particles derived from oral squamous cells carcinoma.

Background: Considering that microRNAs (miRNAs), extracellular vesicles and particles (EVPs) and the amyloid precursor protein (APP) processing have been shown to be altered in oral squamous cells carcinoma (OSCC), it is possible that miRNAs that target APP processing pathways in EVPs are impacted in tumor cells. Our aim was to evaluate miRNAs that target APP itself or disintegrin and metalloproteinase domain 10 (ADAM10), which generate a trophic compound, sAPPα, in EVPs derived from OSCC cell lines, an aggressive and non-invasive, compared to normal keratinocytes.
Methods: We used two OSCC cell lines, an aggressive human oral squamous cell carcinoma cell line (SCC09) and a less aggressive cell line (CAL27) compared with a keratinocyte lineage (HaCaT). Cells were maintained in cell media, from which we isolated EVPs. EVPs were evaluated regarding their size and concentration using Nanotracking Analysis. We measured the levels of miRNAs which had as potential downstream target APP or ADAM10, specifically miR-20a-5p, miR-103a-3p, miR-424-5p, miR-92b-3p, miR-31-5p, and miR-93-5.
Results: There were no differences on size distributions and concentration of isolated EVPs. OSCC cell lines-derived EVPs miR-20a-5p, miR-92b-3p, and miR-93-5p were upregulated in comparison to HaCaT-derived EVPs; while miR-31-5p was reduced in EVPs obtained from CAL27 cells.
Conclusion: Our results indicate changes in miRNAs that target APP machinery processing in EVPs derived from OSCC cell lines of different aggressiveness, which may be involved with abnormal miRNA expression in OSCC tissue and/or releasing tumor suppressor miRNA.
(© 2023 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)