Wittmann Jürgen, Jäck Hans-Martin
Division of Molecular Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine III, Nikolaus-Fiebiger-Center, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 2010 Dec;1806(2):200-7. doi: 10.1016/j.bbcan.2010.07.002. Epub 2010 Jul 13.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression at the posttranscriptional level by either degrading or blocking translation of messenger RNA targets. Recent expression profiling studies have revealed that miRNAs play important regulatory roles in a variety of cellular functions as well as in every cancer type studied so far. Lately, the discovery of miRNAs in the serum of cancer patients opened up the exciting prospective of using miRNAs as powerful and non-invasive cancer biomarkers. In this article, we review the current literature on serum miRNAs in different cancer types and the approaches used to detect and quantify these molecules. We then discuss the potential of miRNA biomarkers to improve disease diagnosis by distinguishing healthy from malignant tissues, identifying the tissue of origin in poorly differentiated tumors or tumors of unknown origin and distinguishing between different subtypes of the same tumor. We will also compare the advantages and disadvantages of potential serum miRNA biomarker molecules for cancer classification, estimation of prognosis and prediction of therapeutic efficacy. Finally, we will establish a set of criteria that these new molecules and clinical studies that use them must fulfill before they can be used as reliable tools in diagnostic and prognostic settings.
微小RNA（miRNA）是一类小的非编码RNA，它们通过降解或阻断信使RNA靶标的翻译在转录后水平调节基因表达。最近的表达谱研究表明，miRNA在多种细胞功能以及迄今为止研究的每种癌症类型中都发挥着重要的调节作用。最近，在癌症患者血清中发现miRNA开启了将miRNA用作强大的非侵入性癌症生物标志物的令人兴奋的前景。在本文中，我们综述了有关不同癌症类型血清miRNA的当前文献以及用于检测和定量这些分子的方法。然后，我们讨论了miRNA生物标志物通过区分健康组织和恶性组织、识别低分化肿瘤或不明来源肿瘤的起源组织以及区分同一肿瘤的不同亚型来改善疾病诊断的潜力。我们还将比较潜在血清miRNA生物标志物分子在癌症分类、预后评估和治疗疗效预测方面的优缺点。最后，我们将建立一套标准，这些新分子以及使用它们的临床研究在能够用作诊断和预后环境中的可靠工具之前必须满足这些标准。
