Immunology Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran; Student Research Committee, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Immunology Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Biomed Pharmacother. 2017 Feb;86:262-270. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2016.12.023. Epub 2016 Dec 19.
MicroRNAs' expression profiles have recently gained major attention as far as cancer research is concerned. MicroRNAs are able to inhibit target gene expression via binding to the 3' UTR of target mRNA, resulting in target mRNA cleavage or translation inhibition. MicroRNAs play significant parts in a myriad of biological processes; studies have proven, on the other hand, that aberrant microRNA expression is, more often than not, associated with the growth and progression of cancers. MicroRNAs could act as oncogenes (oncomir) or tumor suppressors and can also be utilized as biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, and cancer therapy. Recent studies have shown that such herbal extracts as Shikonin, Sinomenium acutum, curcumin, Olea europaea, ginseng, and Coptidis Rhizoma could alter microRNA expression profiles through inhibiting cancer cell development, activating the apoptosis pathway, or increasing the efficacy of conventional cancer therapeutics. Such findings patently suggest that the novel specific targeting of microRNAs by herbal extracts could complete the restriction of tumors by killing the cancerous cells so as to recover survival results in patients diagnosed with malignancies. In this review, we summarized the current research about microRNA biogenesis, microRNAs in cancer, herbal compounds with anti-cancer effects and novel strategies for employing herbal extracts in order to target microRNAs for a better treatment of patients diagnosed with cancer.
微 RNA 的表达谱最近在癌症研究方面受到了广泛关注。微 RNA 能够通过与靶 mRNA 的 3'UTR 结合来抑制靶基因的表达，导致靶 mRNA 的切割或翻译抑制。微 RNA 在许多生物过程中起着重要作用；另一方面，研究已经证明，异常的微 RNA 表达往往与癌症的生长和进展有关。微 RNA 可以作为癌基因（oncomir）或肿瘤抑制因子，也可以用作诊断、预后和癌症治疗的生物标志物。最近的研究表明，紫草素、青风藤、姜黄素、油橄榄、人参和黄连等草药提取物可以通过抑制癌细胞的发育、激活细胞凋亡途径或提高常规癌症治疗的疗效来改变微 RNA 表达谱。这些发现表明，草药提取物对微 RNA 的新型特异性靶向可能通过杀死癌细胞来限制肿瘤，从而恢复患有恶性肿瘤的患者的生存结果。在这篇综述中，我们总结了微 RNA 生物发生、癌症中的微 RNA、具有抗癌作用的草药化合物以及利用草药提取物靶向微 RNA 的新策略的最新研究，以便为癌症患者提供更好的治疗。
