Original Article Expression levels of microRNA machinery components Drosha, Dicer and DGCR8 in human (AGS, HepG2, and KEYSE-30) cancer cell lines

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have recently been shown to play fundamental roles in diverse cellular processes and linked to variety of cancers. Dicer and Drosha are two major enzymes in the miRNA maturation process. DGCR8 is the assistant of Drosha in the microprocessor complex. In this study, we evaluated the mRNA expression profiles of major miRNA processing machinery Drosha, Dicer, and DGCR8 in human gastrointestinal (AGS, KYSE30 and HepG2) cancer cell lines. Materials and Methods: The cells were cultured and harvested, and total cellular RNA was isolated from cells. Then, first-strand cDNA was synthesized from the RNA of cells . Afterward, Quantitative analysis was performed by real-time RT-PCR using the PowerSYBR Green PCR Master Mix. Results: Expression levels of Dro- sha in AGS and HepG2 cells were higher than the controls, whereas, Drosha's expression level in KYSE-30 cell line was lower. The Dicer expression levels in AGS and HepG2 cells were higher, while, its expression level in KYSE-30 cell was lower. The DGCR8 expression levels in all three cell lines were significantly higher than the control samples. Conclusion: Expression levels of the two most important enzymes of the miRNA machinery, Drosha and Dicer, and microprocessor complex component, DGCR8 were noticeably dysregulated when compared to healthy controls.