mir-206 target prediction in breast cancer subtypes by bioinformatics tools

Background: micrornas (mirnas) are small endogenous non-coding rnas with fundamental roles in the regulation of protein expression that is involved in the pathogenesis of many cancers including breast cancer. among them is mir-206, whose role as a tumor suppressor gene has been demonstrated in breast cancer. consequently, the identification of its putative target in breast cancer is of practical value. methods: in the present study, we have suggested a new approach for the identification of mir-206 target genes with possible role in breast cancer pathogenesis. we used 15 online tools for the prediction of mir-206 target genes as well as gene expression data produced by dna microarray technology. results: by combining these two sets of data, wesuggested a list of mir-206 target genes with possible involvement in breast cancer. in addition, we depicted an interaction network including mir-206 and its putative targets. conclusions: considering the complexity of mir-206 interactions with several targets, such in silico analyses would considerably lessen the work load of laboratory experiments.