Exosomal miR-1246 is Involved in Tumorigenesis by Targeting THRB in Breast Cancer

Background: Exosomal miRNAs have drawn increasing attention as tumor biomarkers involving in tumorigenesis due to their stability. The aim of this study was to analyze the role of exosomal miR-1246 in breast cancer. Methods: : The differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs in exosomes from the serum of breast cancer patients and healthy controls were investigated using RNA-seq. The potential pathogenic target genes and functional enrichment of these miRNAs were explored using bioinformatics. Additionally, the role of miR-1246 in migration, invasion and proliferation were investigated in breast cancer cells. The expression of THRB were detected by QRT-PCR. Kaplan-Meier plotter was used to perform survival analysis. Results: : The results showed that the level of exosomal miR-1246 was significantly higher in breast cancer than in the control. MiR-1246 mimic treatment promoted invasion and migration in MDA-MB-231 cells by targeting THRB. Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed that patients with high miR-1246 expression exhibited poor OS compared with patients with low miR-1246 expression, especially those with metastatic breast cancer. Conclusion: Our study provides a better understanding of exosomal miR-1246 in the process of breast cancer. Exosomal miR-1246 could be a potential prognostic biomarker for breast carcinoma.