Cummins J M, Velculescu V E
The Ludwig Center for Cancer Genetics and Therapeutics, Johns Hopkins University Kimmel Cancer Center, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.
Oncogene. 2006 Oct 9;25(46):6220-7. doi: 10.1038/sj.onc.1209914.
Micro-RNAs (miRNAs) are a large class of small non-coding RNAs that regulate protein expression in eucaryotic cells. Initially believed to be unique to the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, miRNAs are now recognized to be important gene regulatory elements in multicellular organisms and have been implicated in a variety of disease processes, including cancer. Advances in expression technologies have facilitated the high-throughput analysis of small RNAs, identifying novel miRNAs and showing that these genes may be aberrantly expressed in various human tumors. These studies suggest that miRNA expression profiling can be correlated with disease pathogenesis and prognosis, and may ultimately be useful in the management of human cancer.
微小RNA（miRNA）是一大类小的非编码RNA，可调节真核细胞中的蛋白质表达。miRNA最初被认为是线虫秀丽隐杆线虫所特有的，现在被认为是多细胞生物中重要的基因调控元件，并与包括癌症在内的多种疾病过程有关。表达技术的进步促进了小RNA的高通量分析，鉴定出了新的miRNA，并表明这些基因可能在各种人类肿瘤中异常表达。这些研究表明，miRNA表达谱与疾病发病机制和预后相关，最终可能有助于人类癌症的治疗。
