Romano Giulia, Veneziano Dario, Acunzo Mario, Croce Carlo M
Department of Cancer Biology and Genetics, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
Carcinogenesis. 2017 May 1;38(5):485-491. doi: 10.1093/carcin/bgx026.
The ENCODE project has reported that at least 80% of the human genome is biologically active, yet only a small part of human DNA encodes for protein. The massive amount of RNA transcribed but not translated into protein can be classified as housekeeping RNA (such as rRNA, tRNA) and regulatory RNA (such as miRNA, piRNA, lncRNA). Small non-coding RNAs, in particular, have been the focus of many studies in the last 20 years and their fundamental role in many human diseases is currently well established. Inter alia, their role in cancer development and progression, as well as in drug resistance, is being increasingly investigated. In this review, focusing our attention on recent research results, we provide an overview of the four large classes of small non-coding RNAs, namely, miRNAs, piRNAs, snoRNA and the new class of tRNA-derived fragments, highlighting their fundamental role in cancer and their potential as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers.
ENCODE项目报告称，至少80%的人类基因组具有生物学活性，但只有一小部分人类DNA编码蛋白质。大量转录但未翻译成蛋白质的RNA可分为管家RNA（如rRNA、tRNA）和调控RNA（如miRNA、piRNA、lncRNA）。特别是小非编码RNA在过去20年一直是许多研究的重点，目前它们在许多人类疾病中的基本作用已得到充分证实。尤其是它们在癌症发生发展以及耐药性方面的作用正受到越来越多的研究。在本综述中，我们聚焦于近期的研究成果，概述了四类小非编码RNA，即miRNA、piRNA、snoRNA以及新的一类tRNA衍生片段，强调它们在癌症中的基本作用以及作为诊断和预后生物标志物的潜力。
