The microRNA expression profiles in extracellular vesicles from HeLa cancer cells in response to cationic lipid- or polyethylenimine-mediated gene delivery

AbstractIntercellular communication is known to be involved in various stages of tumour development and metastasis through the secretion of extracellular vesicles (EVs) containing messengers such as microRNAs (miRNAs). Therefore, this study explored miRNA profiles in cancer cell-derived EVs after non-viral gene delivery in order to better understand the molecular information of intercellular communication in cancer cells after gene delivery. Two commonly used non-viral vectors (Lipofectamine 2000 and jet polyethylenimine) were used for the delivery of gene fluorescent protein plasmid in HeLa cancer cells. EVs were extracted and the contents of their RNA were subjected to the next-generation sequencing. In order to illustrate the common characteristics of non-viral vectors in the cancer cells, two overlapped up-regulated miRNAs (hsa-miR-143-3p and hsa-miR-193b-3p) were confirmed by real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction in the secreted EVs in response to both lipoplexes and ...