The genome expression profile of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) overexpressing miR-146a

Endothelial cells are critical for angiogenesis, and microRNAs plays important roles in this process. We investigated the regulatory role of microRNAs in endothelial cells of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by examining the microRNA expression profile of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in the absence or presence of human HCC cells, and identified miR-146a as the most highly up-regulated microRNA. Furthermore, we revealed that miR-146a promoted the expression of platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFRA) in HUVECs, and this process was mediated by BRCA1. Overexpression of PDGFRA in the ECs of HCC tissues was associated with microvascular invasion, and predicted a poorer prognosis. These results suggest that MiR-146a plays a key role in regulating the angiogenic activity of ECs in HCC through miR-146a-BRCA1-PDGFRA pathway. MiR-146a may emerge as a potential anti-angiogenic target on ECs for HCC therapy. We have employed whole genome OneArray to examine the genome expression changes of HUVECs overexpressing miR-146a.