Xi Yaguang, Edwards John R, Ju Jingfang
Cancer Genomics Laboratory, Mitchell Cancer Institute, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL 36688, USA.
Cancer Inform. 2007 May 31;3:245-53.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs that mediate gene expression at the posttranscriptional and translational levels and have been demonstrated to be involved in diverse biological functions. Mounting evidence in recent years has shown that miRNAs play key roles in tumorigenesis due to abnormal expression of and mutations in miRNAs. High throughput miRNA expression profiling of several major tumor types has identified miRNAs associated with clinical diagnosis and prognosis of cancer treatment. Previously our group has discovered a novel regulatory relationship between tumor suppressor gene p53 with miRNAs expression and a number of miRNA promoters contain putative p53 binding sites. In addition, others have reported that c-myc can mediate a large number of miRNAs expression. In this review, we will emphasize algorithms to identify mRNA targets of miRNAs and the roles of miRNAs in colorectal cancer. In particular, we will discuss a novel regulatory relationship of miRNAs with tumor suppressor p53 and c-myc. miRNAs are becoming promising novel targets and biomarkers for future cancer therapeutic development and clinical molecular diagnosis.
微小RNA（miRNA）是一类小的非编码RNA，它们在转录后和翻译水平介导基因表达，并已被证明参与多种生物学功能。近年来越来越多的证据表明，由于miRNA的异常表达和突变，miRNA在肿瘤发生中起关键作用。对几种主要肿瘤类型的高通量miRNA表达谱分析已经鉴定出与癌症治疗的临床诊断和预后相关的miRNA。此前我们小组发现了肿瘤抑制基因p53与miRNA表达之间的一种新的调控关系，并且许多miRNA启动子含有假定的p53结合位点。此外，其他人报道c-myc可以介导大量miRNA的表达。在这篇综述中，我们将重点介绍鉴定miRNA的mRNA靶标的算法以及miRNA在结直肠癌中的作用。特别是，我们将讨论miRNA与肿瘤抑制因子p53和c-myc的一种新的调控关系。miRNA正成为未来癌症治疗发展和临床分子诊断中很有前景的新靶点和生物标志物。
