Iswariya Ganapathy T, Paital Biswaranjan, Padma Padma R, Nirmaladevi Ramalingam
Department of Biochemistry, Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore, TamilNadu-641 043, Coimbatore, India.
Redox Regulation Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar-751003, India.
Front Biosci (Schol Ed). 2019 Mar 1;11(1):29-55. doi: 10.2741/S525.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous, small non-coding RNA molecules that play important regulatory roles in numerous biological processes, cellular pathways and networks. They do so by targeting specific mRNAs, directly degrading them and/or preventing their translation into proteins. The impaired function of miRNAs results in aberrant gene expression that promotes abnormal cell growth and differentiation. miRNAs, located at fragile sites or cancer associated regions of the genome, act as either tumor suppressor or tumor promoters. miRNAs also play significant role in aging and in various diseases. Despite the fact that profiling of miRNA expression is considered an important tool for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, such analysis has not yet been adopted in routine clinical care practices. Here, we highlight advances and challenges in research on cancer and aging in relation to miRNAs.
微小RNA（miRNA）是内源性的小非编码RNA分子，在众多生物学过程、细胞途径和网络中发挥重要的调节作用。它们通过靶向特定的信使核糖核酸（mRNA），直接降解这些mRNA和/或阻止其翻译成蛋白质来实现这一点。miRNA功能受损会导致异常的基因表达，从而促进细胞异常生长和分化。位于基因组脆弱位点或癌症相关区域的miRNA，既可以作为肿瘤抑制因子，也可以作为肿瘤促进因子。miRNA在衰老和各种疾病中也发挥着重要作用。尽管miRNA表达谱分析被认为是用于诊断和治疗目的的重要工具，但这种分析尚未在常规临床护理实践中采用。在此，我们重点介绍与miRNA相关的癌症和衰老研究的进展与挑战。
