Investigating the MicroRNA 10b Regulatory Network: A Bioinformatic Approach to Transcription Factor Binding and Cancer Implications.

miR-10b, that stands for microRNA 10 in bovine serum protein refers to a subgroup of small molecules belonging to the body especially involved in physiological processes with regard cancers initiation and progression as well cellular differentiation. An understanding of the regulation miR-10b along with identification of its corresponding transcription factors (TFs) that bind to the so-called mirR-10b Regulated-DNA Sequence (MRDS) as well discovering potential targets serves a powerful tool not only in elucidation but also pharmacological arsenal targeting miRNAs. In this work, two bioinformatics databases (JASPAR and PROMO) were used to suggest the putative TFs that can interact with miR-10b MRDS. Most interestingly, among the set of TFs common to both databases were a number have previously associated with histone modification. Since the function of miR-10b is well known, we focused only on TFs with documented associations to regulation by this particular miRNA. These TFs were E2F1, P53, SP1 and NFKB. In an attempt to investigate the regulatory network of TFs involved TFs associated with miR-10b, STRING database was utilized to study the interactions among the identified TFs and their functional enrichments. Through this analysis, we found important Gene Ontology terms and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways linked with different kinds of cancer, the transcriptional regulation, and gene expression. This study aims to provide an inclusive analysis of TFs that control miR-10b by applying bioinformatics predictions and validate these findings over existing literature evidence. This method will deepen our knowledge towards miR-10b regulatory network and its implications in cancer biology and eventually discovering new treatment interventions.