Assumpção Carolina Baraúna, Calcagno Danielle Queiroz, Araújo Taíssa Maíra Thomaz, Santos Sidney Emmanuel Batista dos, Santos Ândrea Kely Campos Ribeiro dos, Riggins Gregory Joseph, Burbano Rommel Rodriguez, Assumpção Paulo Pimentel
Laboratório de Citogenética Humana, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará, Rua Augusto Corrêa, 01, Guamá, CEP: 66075-110, Belém-PA, Brazil.
Núcleo de Pesquisas em Oncologia, Hospital Universitário João de Barros Barreto, Av. Mundurucus, 4487, Guamá, CEP: 66073-000, Belém-PA, Brazil.
Epigenomics. 2015;7(6):975-84. doi: 10.2217/epi.15.37. Epub 2015 May 1.
Epigenetic mechanisms work in an orchestrated fashion to control gene expression in both homeostasis and diseases. Among small noncoding RNAs, piRNAs seem to meet the necessary requirements to be included in this epigenetic network due to their role in both transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation. piRNAs and PIWI proteins might play important roles in cancer occurrence, prognosis and treatment as reported previously. Nevertheless, the potential clinical relevance of these molecules has yet been elucidated. A brief overview of piRNA biogenesis and their potential roles as part of an epigenetic network that is possibly involved in cancer is provided. Moreover, potential strategies based on the use of piRNAs and PIWI proteins as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers as well as for cancer therapeutics are discussed.
表观遗传机制以一种协调的方式发挥作用，在稳态和疾病中控制基因表达。在小非编码RNA中，piRNA似乎满足被纳入这个表观遗传网络的必要条件，因为它们在转录和转录后调控中都发挥作用。如先前报道，piRNA和PIWI蛋白可能在癌症的发生、预后和治疗中发挥重要作用。然而，这些分子的潜在临床相关性尚未阐明。本文简要概述了piRNA的生物合成及其作为可能参与癌症的表观遗传网络一部分的潜在作用。此外，还讨论了基于使用piRNA和PIWI蛋白作为诊断和预后生物标志物以及用于癌症治疗的潜在策略。
