Mishra Prasun J, Mishra Pravin J, Banerjee Debabrata, Bertino Joseph R
Department of Pharmacology and Medicine, Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey, USA.
Cell Cycle. 2008 Apr 1;7(7):853-8. doi: 10.4161/cc.7.7.5666. Epub 2008 Jan 28.
MicroRNAs are evolutionarily conserved small non-coding RNAs known to inhibit the translation of proteins by binding to the target transcript in the 3' untranslated region. Functional polymorphisms in 3' UTRs of several genes have been reported to be associated with diseases by affecting gene expression. The mechanism by which these polymorphisms affect gene expression and induce variability in a cell is not well understood. It has been suggested that these polymorphisms may interfere with regulatory elements that bind to untranslated region of a gene. Recently, a novel class of functional polymorphisms termed miRSNPs/polymorphisms was reported. defined as a polymorphism present at or near a microRNA binding sites of functional genes that can affect gene expression by interfering with a miRNA function. The work elucidated the mechanism of a functional miRSNP 829C-->T present in 3' UTR of dihydrofolate reductase, an important drug target. The SNP interferes with the miR24 microRNA function and leads to DHFR over expression and methotrexate resistance. In this article we highlight the importance of these miRSNPs or miR-polymorphisms in gene regulation and the mechanism by which these miRSNPs can induce variability in the SNP expressing mutant cell by using drug resistance as an example.
微小RNA是进化上保守的小非编码RNA,已知其通过与3'非翻译区的靶转录本结合来抑制蛋白质翻译。据报道,几个基因的3'UTR中的功能多态性通过影响基因表达与疾病相关。这些多态性影响基因表达并在细胞中诱导变异性的机制尚不清楚。有人提出,这些多态性可能会干扰与基因非翻译区结合的调控元件。最近,报道了一类新的功能多态性,称为miRSNP/多态性。定义为存在于功能基因的微小RNA结合位点处或附近的多态性,其可通过干扰微小RNA功能来影响基因表达。这项工作阐明了二氢叶酸还原酶(一种重要的药物靶点)3'UTR中存在的功能性miRSNP 829C→T的机制。该单核苷酸多态性干扰miR24微小RNA的功能,导致二氢叶酸还原酶过度表达和甲氨蝶呤耐药。在本文中,我们以耐药性为例,强调了这些miRSNP或miR-多态性在基因调控中的重要性,以及这些miRSNP在SNP表达突变细胞中诱导变异性的机制。