Department of Radiation Oncology, Cancer Institute of New Jersey, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, USA.
J Mol Cell Biol. 2011 Feb;3(1):44-50. doi: 10.1093/jmcb/mjq040.
Tumor suppressor p53 plays a central role in tumor prevention. As a transcription factor, p53 mainly exerts its function through transcription regulation of its target genes to initiate various cellular responses. To maintain its proper function, p53 is tightly regulated by a wide variety of regulators in cells. Thus, p53, its regulators and regulated genes form a complex p53 network which is composed of hundreds of genes and their products. microRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of endogenously expressed, small non-coding RNA molecules which play a key role in regulation of gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Recent studies have demonstrated that miRNAs interact with p53 and its network at multiple levels. p53 regulates the transcription expression and the maturation of a group of miRNAs. On the other hand, miRNAs can regulate the activity and function of p53 through direct repression of p53 or its regulators in cells. These findings have demonstrated that miRNAs are important components in the p53 network, and also added another layer of complexity to the p53 network.
抑癌基因 p53 在肿瘤预防中起着核心作用。作为转录因子，p53 主要通过转录调节其靶基因来启动各种细胞反应。为了保持其适当的功能，p53 在细胞中受到多种调节因子的严格调控。因此，p53、其调节因子和受调节的基因形成了一个由数百个基因及其产物组成的复杂 p53 网络。 microRNAs (miRNAs) 是一类内源性表达的、小的非编码 RNA 分子，在转录后水平调控基因表达中起着关键作用。最近的研究表明，miRNAs 在多个层面上与 p53 及其网络相互作用。p53 调节一组 miRNAs 的转录表达和成熟。另一方面，miRNAs 可以通过直接抑制细胞中的 p53 或其调节因子来调节 p53 的活性和功能。这些发现表明，miRNAs 是 p53 网络的重要组成部分，也为 p53 网络增加了另一层复杂性。
