Tran Nham
Non Coding RNA Cancer Laboratory, Centre of Health Technologies, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia.
Trends Cancer. 2016 Jul;2(7):329-331. doi: 10.1016/j.trecan.2016.05.008. Epub 2016 Jun 16.
miRNAs modulate gene expression while exosomes are extracellular cargo vessels that transport miRNAs and other materials to surrounding cells. When exosomes are taken up by recipient cells, the released miRNAs can modulate immune responses, inhibit apoptosis, and promote angiogenesis to maintain tumor growth. Central to this regulation is the processing of the primary transcripts into active miRNAs, which occurs exclusively within mammalian cells. Challenging this dogma is the discovery that Dicer and Ago2, key components of miRNA processing, are also present inside exosomes. While the exact nature of this processing requires extensive proof, it is an exciting notion that exogenous miRNA factories could exist outside the canonical boundaries of mammalian cells.
微小RNA（miRNAs）可调节基因表达，而外泌体是细胞外的运载工具，可将miRNAs和其他物质运输到周围细胞。当受体细胞摄取外泌体时，释放的miRNAs可调节免疫反应、抑制细胞凋亡并促进血管生成以维持肿瘤生长。这种调节的核心是将初级转录本加工成活性miRNAs，这一过程仅在哺乳动物细胞内发生。对这一传统观念提出挑战的是，人们发现miRNA加工的关键成分Dicer和Ago2也存在于外泌体内。虽然这种加工的确切性质需要大量证据，但外源性miRNA工厂可能存在于哺乳动物细胞的传统边界之外，这是一个令人兴奋的概念。
