MiR-107 and MiR-185 Can Induce Cell Cycle Arrest in Human Non Small Cell Lung Cancer Cell Lines

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short single stranded noncoding RNAs that suppress gene expression through either translational repression or degradation of target mRNAs. The annealing between messenger RNAs and 5' seed region of miRNAs is believed to be essential for the specific suppression of target gene expression. One miRNA can have several hundred different targets in a cell. Rapidly accumulating evidence suggests that many miRNAs are involved in cell cycle regulation and consequentially play critical roles in carcinogenesis. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Introduction of synthetic miR-107 or miR-185 suppressed growth of the human non-small cell lung cancer cell lines. Flow cytometry analysis revealed these miRNAs induce a G1 cell cycle arrest in H1299 cells and the suppression of cell cycle progression is stronger than that by Let-7 miRNA. By the gene expression analyses with oligonucleotide microarrays, we find hundreds of genes are affected by transfection of these miRNAs. Using miRNA-target prediction analyses and the array data, we listed up a set of likely targets of miR-107 and miR-185 for G1 cell cycle arrest and validate a subset of them using real-time RT-PCR and immunoblotting for CDK6. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We identified new cell cycle regulating miRNAs, miR-107 and miR-185, localized in frequently altered chromosomal regions in human lung cancers. Especially for miR-107, a large number of down-regulated genes are annotated with the gene ontology term 'cell cycle'. Our results suggest that these miRNAs may contribute to regulate cell cycle in human malignant tumors

Electroweak Baryogenesis in Two Higgs Doublet Models and B meson anomalies

Motivated by 3.9 sigma evidence of a CP-violating phase beyond the standard model in the like-sign dimuon asymmetry reported by DO, we examine the potential for two Higgs doublet models (2HDMs) to achieve successful electroweak baryogenesis (EWBG) while explaining the dimuon anomaly. Our emphasis is on the minimal flavour violating 2HDM, but our numerical scans of model parameter space include type I and type II models as special cases. We incorporate relevant particle physics constraints, including electroweak precision data, b to s gamma, the neutron electric dipole moment, R_b, and perturbative coupling bounds to constrain the model. Surprisingly, we find that a large enough baryon asymmetry is only consistently achieved in a small subset of parameter space in 2HDMs, regardless of trying to simultaneously account for any B physics anomaly. There is some tension between simultaneous explanation of the dimuon anomaly and baryogenesis, but using a Markov chain Monte Carlo we find several models within 1 sigma of the central values. We point out shortcomings with previous studies that reached different conclusions. The restricted parameter space that allows for EWBG makes this scenario highly predictive for collider searches. We discuss the most promising signatures to pursue at the LHC for EWBG-compatible models.Comment: 58 pages, 16 figures, 6 tables; v2 added references; v3 minor corrections and improvements, published versio

MicroRNAs MiR-17, MiR-20a, and MiR-106b Act in Concert to Modulate E2F Activity on Cell Cycle Arrest during Neuronal Lineage Differentiation of USSC

MicroRNAs are short (∼22 nt) non-coding regulatory RNAs that control gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Here the functional impact of microRNAs on cell cycle arrest during neuronal lineage differentiation of unrestricted somatic stem cells from human cord blood (USSC) was analyzed./M transition. Most strikingly, miR-17, -20a, and -106b were found to promote cell proliferation by increasing the intracellular activity of E2F transcription factors, despite the fact that miR-17, -20a, and -106b directly target the transcripts that encode for this protein family./S transition

QCD and strongly coupled gauge theories : challenges and perspectives

We highlight the progress, current status, and open challenges of QCD-driven physics, in theory and in experiment. We discuss how the strong interaction is intimately connected to a broad sweep of physical problems, in settings ranging from astrophysics and cosmology to strongly coupled, complex systems in particle and condensed-matter physics, as well as to searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. We also discuss how success in describing the strong interaction impacts other fields, and, in turn, how such subjects can impact studies of the strong interaction. In the course of the work we offer a perspective on the many research streams which flow into and out of QCD, as well as a vision for future developments.Peer reviewe