MicroRNA-17-92 significantly enhances radioresistance in human mantle cell lymphoma cells.

The microRNA-17-92 (miRNA-17-92) cluster, at chromosome 13q31-q32, also known as oncomir-1, consists of seven miRNAs that are transcribed as a polycistronic unit. Over-expression of miRNA-17-92 has been observed in lymphomas and other solid tumors. Whether miRNA-17-92 expression affects the response of tumor cells to radiotherapy is not addressed so far. In the present study, we studied the effects of miRNA-17-92 on the radiosensitivity of human mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) cells Z138c. Over-expression of miRNA-17-92 significantly increased survival cell number, cell proliferation and decreased cell death of human MCL cells after different doses of radiation. Immunoblot analysis showed that phosphatase and tension homolog (PTEN) and PHLPP2 was down-modulated and pAkt activity was enhanced in MCL cells after over-expressing miRNA-17-92 after irradiation. These findings are the first direct evidence that over-expression of miRNA-17-92 cluster significantly increases the radioresistance of human MCL cells, which offers a novel target molecule for improving the radiotherapy of MCL in clinic.