MicroRNA Changes Occur in Multiple Myeloma Cells in the Context of Bone Marrow Milieu.

We and Others have previously demonstrated that primary multiple myeloma (MM) cells are characterized by a specific microRNA (miRNA) signature compared to the related normal plasmacell counterpart; and that miRNAs play a crucial role in regulating MM pathogenesis. Nevertheless, miRNA changes that occur in MM cells in the context of the bone marrow microenvironment have not been previously examined. Therefore, characterization of miRNA profiling of MM cells in conjunction with bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) is important to better understand the underlying molecular changes that lead to initiation and progression of this disease.

We performed miRNA-expression-profiling of MM cell lines (MM.1S; RPMI8226) that were co-cultured with primary BMSCs obtained from 5 MM patients, using liquid phase Luminex microbead miRNA profiling (Luminex, Austin, TX). The expression patterns of unfiltered data were performed using unsupervised hierarchical clustering of samples, based on centroid linkage and 1-correlation distance metric, using dChip (www.dchip.org). To further define those miRNAs differentially expressed between groups (patients vs normal), the data were filtered on significance of differences using ANOVA test, (P < 0.05). Microbead-miRNA profiling data were validated data by stem-loop qRT-PCR. To identify specific predicted miRNA-targeted mRNAs, TargetScan, PicTar, and miRanda algorithms were used.

miRNA profiling of MM cells cultured with primary BMSCs (MM+BMSC system) differs from MM cells which were not grown in contact with primary BMSCs (MM cells alone). Specifically, we observed increased expression of miRNA-450, -432*, -299-5p, -409-3p, -29b, -542-5p, -184, -517*, -218, 128b, -142-5p and -211 (P<0.05) in MM cells obtained from the MM+BMSC system, compared to MM cells alone. Stem-loop qRT-PCR was performed on matched samples and showed expression patterns similar to those observed in miRNA analysis. Using algorithms commonly used to predict human miRNA gene targets (miRanda; TargetScan; PicTar), predicted targets of the increased miRNAs included negative regulators of NFkB, PI3K/Akt/mTOR, and MAPK/ERK signaling pathways, such as PTEN, KSR2, TWEAK, and DUSP; as well as tumor suppressors (MCC, TSSC1, TUSC1, FBW7, RHOBTB), pro-apoptotic factors and cyclin-dependent kinases inhibitors.

These data demonstrate that bone marrow stromal cells exert a modulatory effect on miRNA profiling in MM cells, which results in promoting MM cell growth and reducing MM cell survival.

Ghobrial:Millennium : Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau.