Liang Hongwei, Gong Fei, Zhang Suyang, Zhang Chen-Yu, Zen Ke, Chen Xi
Jiangsu Engineering Research Center for MicroRNA Biology and Biotechnology, State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
Wiley Interdiscip Rev RNA. 2014 Mar-Apr;5(2):285-300. doi: 10.1002/wrna.1208. Epub 2013 Nov 20.
Recently, numerous studies have documented the importance of microRNAs (miRNAs) as an essential cornerstone of the genetic system. Although RNA is usually considered an unstable molecule because of the ubiquitous ribonuclease, miRNAs are now known to circulate in the bloodstream and other body fluids in a stable, cell-free form. Importantly, extracellular miRNAs are aberrantly present in plasma, serum, and other body fluids during the pathogenesis of many diseases and, thus, are promising noninvasive or minimally invasive biomarkers to assess the pathological status of the body. However, the origin and biological function of extracellular miRNAs remains incompletely understood. In this review, we summarize the recent literature on the biogenesis and working models of extracellular miRNAs, and we highlight the impact of extending these ongoing extracellular miRNA studies to clinical applications.
最近，大量研究证明了微小RNA（miRNA）作为遗传系统重要基石的重要性。尽管由于普遍存在的核糖核酸酶，RNA通常被认为是一种不稳定的分子，但现在已知miRNA以稳定的无细胞形式在血液和其他体液中循环。重要的是，在许多疾病的发病过程中，细胞外miRNA在血浆、血清和其他体液中异常存在，因此，它们是评估身体病理状态的有前景的非侵入性或微创生物标志物。然而，细胞外miRNA的起源和生物学功能仍未完全了解。在这篇综述中，我们总结了关于细胞外miRNA生物发生和作用模式的最新文献，并强调了将这些正在进行的细胞外miRNA研究扩展到临床应用的影响。
