Department of Biological Sciences, University of Delaware, Nowak, DE 19716, USA.
Int J Oral Sci. 2011 Oct;3(4):165-75. doi: 10.4248/IJOS11063.
microRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs that function as endogenous triggers of the RNA interference pathway. Studies have shown that thousands of human protein-coding genes are regulated by miRNAs, indicating that miRNAs are master regulators of many important biological processes, such as cancer development. miRNAs frequently have deregulated expression in many types of human cancers, and play critical roles in tumorigenesis, which functions either as tumor suppressors or as oncogenes. Recent studies have shown that miRNAs are highly related with cancer progression, including initiating, growth, apoptosis, invasion, and metastasis. Furthermore, miRNAs are shown to be responsible for the cancer-related inflammation, anti-cancer drug resistance, and regulation of cancer stem cells. Therefore, miRNAs have generated great interest as a novel strategy in cancer diagnosis and therapy. Here we review the versatile roles of miRNAs in cancers and their potential applications for diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment as biomarkers.
微小 RNA（miRNAs）是一类非编码 RNA，作为 RNA 干扰途径的内源性触发因子发挥作用。研究表明，数千个人类蛋白质编码基因受 miRNAs 调控，这表明 miRNAs 是许多重要生物学过程（如癌症发展）的主要调控因子。miRNAs 在许多类型的人类癌症中经常表达失调，并在肿瘤发生中发挥关键作用，其功能既可以作为肿瘤抑制因子，也可以作为癌基因。最近的研究表明，miRNAs 与癌症进展高度相关，包括起始、生长、凋亡、侵袭和转移。此外，miRNAs 被认为与癌症相关的炎症、抗癌药物耐药性以及癌症干细胞的调节有关。因此，miRNAs 作为癌症诊断和治疗的一种新策略引起了极大的兴趣。在这里，我们综述了 miRNAs 在癌症中的多种作用及其作为诊断、预后和治疗标志物的潜在应用。
