Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40102335›Full record

ArticleBreast cancer research and treatment2025

Mitochondrial tRNA fragment, mt-tRF-Tyr-GTA-001 (tRF-21-X3OJI8EWB), in breast cancer and its potential clinical implications.

Junlong Wang, Dionyssios Katsaros, Zhanwei Wang, Li Ma, Elena Casetta, Peiwen Fei, Pietro Denti, Ida Grimaudo, Shaoqiu Chen, Youping Deng and 1 more

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Article in Breast cancer research and treatment, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

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2citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Junlong WangCancer Epidemiology Program, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, 701 Ilalo Street, Honolulu, HI, 96813, USA.
Dionyssios KatsarosDepartment of Surgical Sciences, AOU Città Della Salute, University of Torino, GynecologyTurin, Italy.
Zhanwei WangCancer Epidemiology Program, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, 701 Ilalo Street, Honolulu, HI, 96813, USA.
Li MaDepartment of Molecular Biosciences & Bioengineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA.
Elena CasettaDepartment of Surgical Sciences, AOU Città Della Salute, University of Torino, GynecologyTurin, Italy.
Peiwen FeiCancer Biology Program, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, Honolulu, HI, USA.
Pietro DentiDepartment of Surgical Sciences, AOU Città Della Salute, University of Torino, GynecologyTurin, Italy.
Ida GrimaudoDepartment of Surgical Sciences, AOU Città Della Salute, University of Torino, GynecologyTurin, Italy.
Shaoqiu ChenDepartment of Quantitative Health Sciences, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA.
Youping DengDepartment of Quantitative Health Sciences, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA.
Herbert YuCancer Epidemiology Program, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, 701 Ilalo Street, Honolulu, HI, 96813, USA. hyu@cc.hawaii.edu.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundTransfer RNA (tRNA) fragments (tRFs) are a group of small non-coding RNAs with biological functions. The involvement of tRNAs in cancer has also been recognized, but most studies focused on nuclear tRFs, very few on mitochondrial tRFs.

methodsWe analyzed the TCGA microRNAseq data to identify differentially expressed mitochondrial tRFs (mt-tRFs) in breast tumors and evaluated their associations with the disease outcome. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to determine the associations between mt-tRFs and patient survival while adjusting for clinicopathological variables. Quantitative RT-PCR was developed to measure a specific tRF expression in a validation study.

resultsOur analysis of 1,060 tumor samples from TCGA revealed that mt-tRF-Tyr-GTA-001 (tRF-21-X3OJI8EWB or t00018104) expression, a tRF from mitochondrial tRNA with tyrosine anticodon GTA (mt-tRNA-Tyr-GTA), was significantly lower in breast tumors than the adjacent tissues (p< 0.0001). Patients with low expression had significantly higher risk of death (HR = 1.69, p = 0.0018) regardless of their age at diagnosis, disease stage, tumor grade, and hormone receptor status. This survival association was replicated in an independent study where mt-tRF-Tyr-GTA-001 expression was measured with qRT-PCR. Further analysis suggested that the mt-tRF expression was correlated with ribonuclease ANG and RNase 4 known to cleave tRNAs and upregulated under hypoxia. IPA interrogation of the mt-tRF-Tyr-GTA-001 expression signature indicated the inhibitory effects of mt-tRF-Tyr-GTA-001 on malignant transformation, tumor growth, and cell invasion. In silico analysis showed that the binding targets of mt-tRF-Tyr-GTA-001 included several oncogenic transcription factors (E2Fs, CCNE1, FOXM1). We also found the mt-tRF correlated with the abundances of M0 macrophages and resting mast cells, two of the immune cells known for innate immunity.

conclusionsIn summary, our study suggests that mt-tRF-Tyr-GTA-001, a mitochondrial tRF, may suppress breast cancer progression through its involvement in regulation of cell phenotype and tumor immunity.

Indexed as

Breast NeoplasmsMitochondriaRNA, TransferBiomarkers, TumorFemaleGene Expression Regulation, NeoplasticHumansMiddle AgedPrognosisRNA, MitochondrialBiomarkers, TumorRNA, MitochondrialRNA, TransferBioinformaticsNon-coding RNAPrognosisSurvivaltRFtRNA fragment

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.