Increased miR-708 expression in NSCLC and its association with poor survival in lung adenocarcinoma from Never Smokers

We demonstrate that miR-708 is one of the most highly overexpressed miRNAs in non-small cell lung cancer. High level of miR-708 in tumor is also associated with a reduced overall survival in lung adenocarcinomas from never smokers. Functionally, miR-708 overexpression increases the proliferation, migration, and invasion in cultured cells and down regulates TMEM88, a negative regulator of Wnt signaling. Jointly, our results support an oncogenic role of miR-708 by activating Wnt signaling pathway to promote lung cancer progression. We performed miRNA expression profiling in matched lung adenocarcinoma and uninvolved lung using 47 pairs from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded [FFPE] tissues from never smokers. We performed miRNA expression profiling in matched lung adenocarcinoma and uninvolved lung using 56 pairs of fresh-frozen [FF] samples from never smokers.