Faber Claudius, Kirchner Thomas, Hlubek Falk
Institute of Pathology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Thalkirchner Strasse 36, 80337 Munich, Germany.
Virchows Arch. 2009 Apr;454(4):359-67. doi: 10.1007/s00428-009-0751-9. Epub 2009 Mar 14.
MicroRNAs are small RNAs that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. After their discovery 15 years ago, a new layer of gene regulation was introduced into every field of human biology and medicine. Considering the strong association between genetic alterations and neoplastic diseases, it is not surprising that there is a special focus on miRNAs and cancer. A multitude of experimental studies on colorectal cancer, the most common cancer site and furthermore the second most common cause of death due to cancer, deliver insight into miRNA-mediated, regulatory links to well-known oncogenic and tumour suppressor signalling pathways. Furthermore, several investigations have described the ability of microRNA expression patterns to predict prognosis in colon cancer and support diagnosis of poorly differentiated tumours. In this short review, we give a comprehensive overview focussed on miRNAs in colorectal cancer research.
微小RNA是在转录后水平调节基因表达的小RNA。自15年前被发现以来，基因调控的新层面被引入到人类生物学和医学的各个领域。鉴于基因改变与肿瘤性疾病之间的紧密关联，对微小RNA与癌症的特别关注也就不足为奇了。对结直肠癌（最常见的癌症部位，也是癌症致死的第二大常见原因）进行的大量实验研究，揭示了微小RNA介导的与知名致癌和肿瘤抑制信号通路的调控联系。此外，多项研究描述了微小RNA表达模式预测结肠癌预后以及辅助诊断低分化肿瘤的能力。在这篇简短的综述中，我们全面概述了结直肠癌研究中有关微小RNA的内容。
