Key Laboratory for Oral Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, People's Republic of China.
Oral Oncol. 2011 May;47(5):314-9. doi: 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2011.03.019. Epub 2011 Apr 6.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a group of endogenous, non-coding, 18-24 nucleotide length single-strand RNAs that mediate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level through mRNA degradation or translational repression. They are involved in regulating diverse cellular biological processes such as cell cycle, differentiation and apoptosis. Deregulation of miRNAs affects normal biological processes leading to malignancies, including oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Recent studies have identified aberrant miRNA expression profiles in OSCC tissues and/or cell lines compared with matched normal controls, the mechanisms of which are becoming unveiled. In addition, a small number of dysregulated miRNAs have been implicated either as oncogenes or tumor suppressors, affecting the initiation and progression of OSCC through the regulation of proliferation, apoptosis, metastasis and chemoresistance. Also, these missexpressed miRNAs have been shown to have potential as novel diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic tools, which are expected to advance the clinical management of OSCC in the near future.
微小 RNA（miRNAs）是一组内源性、非编码、18-24 个核苷酸长度的单链 RNA，通过 mRNA 降解或翻译抑制在转录后水平调节基因表达。它们参与调节多种细胞生物学过程，如细胞周期、分化和凋亡。miRNAs 的失调会影响正常的生物学过程，导致恶性肿瘤，包括口腔鳞状细胞癌（OSCC）。最近的研究已经在 OSCC 组织和/或细胞系中与匹配的正常对照相比确定了异常的 miRNA 表达谱，其机制正在揭示中。此外，少数失调的 miRNA 被认为是癌基因或肿瘤抑制基因，通过调节增殖、凋亡、转移和化疗耐药性来影响 OSCC 的发生和发展。此外，这些表达异常的 miRNA 已被证明具有作为新型诊断、预后和治疗工具的潜力，有望在不久的将来推进 OSCC 的临床管理。
