Mitochondrial respiration is restricted by miR-2909 within human melanocytes.

Most of the cancer types in general and melanoma in particular exhibit mitochondrial dysfunction leading to the Warburg effect. Our present study stemmed from the observation that human A-375 and melanoma B16 cells displayed overexpression of a novel micro-RNA, miR-2909, shown in our earlier studies to be involved in aerobic glycolysis. Consequently, our study attempts to demonstrate the role of miR-2909 in the regulation of mitochondrial function within human melanocytes. Based upon such a study, we hypothesize that mitochondrial dysfunction observed in melanomas may result from deregulated miR-2909 expression within such cells.