In silico analysis of regulatory networks underlines the role of miR-10b-5p and its target BDNF in huntington’s disease

Sören Müller

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) play various roles during central nervous system development. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of ncRNAs that exert their function together with argonaute proteins by post-transcriptional gene silencing of messenger RNAs (mRNAs). Several studies provide evidence for alterations in miRNA expression in patients with neurodegenerative diseases. Among these is huntington's disease (HD), a dominantly inherited fatal disorder characterized by deregulation of neuronal-specific mRNAs as well as miRNAs. Recently, next-generation sequencing (NGS) miRNA profiles from human HD and neurologically normal control brain tissues were reported. Five consistently upregulated miRNAs affect the expression of genes involved in neuronal differentiation, neurite outgrowth, cell death and survival. We re-analyzed the NGS data publicly available in array express and detected nineteen additional differentially expressed miRNAs. Subsequently, we connected these miRNAs to genes implicated in HD development and network analysis pointed to miRNA-mediated downregulation of twenty-two genes with roles in the pathogenesis as well as treatment of the disease. In silico prediction and reporter systems prove that levels of BDNF, a central node in the miRNA-mRNA regulatory network, can be post-transcriptionally controlled by upregulated miR-10b-5p and miR-30a-5p. Reduced BDNF expression is associated with neuronal dysfunction and death in HD. Moreover, the 3'UTR of CREB1 harbors a predicted binding site for these two miRNAs. CREB1 is similarly downregulated in HD and overexpression decreased susceptibility to 3-nitropropionic-induced toxicity in a cell model. In contradiction to these observations, it is presumed that miR-10b-5p upregulation in HD exerts a neuroprotective role in response to the mutation in the huntingtin gene. Therefore, the function of miR-10b-5p and especially its effect on BDNF expression in HD requires further academic research.