National Center for Clinical Laboratories, Beijing Hospital, National Center of Gerontology, Beijing, People's Republic of China; Graduate School, Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China; Beijing Engineering Research Center of Laboratory Medicine, Beijing Hospital, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
National Center for Clinical Laboratories, Beijing Hospital, National Center of Gerontology, Beijing, People's Republic of China; Graduate School, Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China; Beijing Engineering Research Center of Laboratory Medicine, Beijing Hospital, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
Clin Chim Acta. 2020 Jan;500:10-19. doi: 10.1016/j.cca.2019.09.013. Epub 2019 Oct 8.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. HCC patients are commonly diagnosed at an advanced stage, for which highly effective therapies are limited. Hence, there is a growing need to discover promising biomarkers for HCC diagnosis, and in this context, microRNAs (miRNAs) hold great promise. MiRNAs function as gene expression regulators by directly binding messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and subsequently causing suppression of mRNA translation or degradation of target mRNAs. Two major types of noncoding RNAs act as competing endogenous sponges: circular RNAs and long non-coding RNAs.They can competitively bind to miRNA through miRNA response elements (MREs), thereby reducing the number of miRNAs binding mRNAs and regulating the expression of downstream target genes of miRNAs at the posttranscriptional level. The relationship between single miRNA sponge and HCC has been explored. However, comprehensive reviews on the sponge's function in HCC are lacking. In this review, we describe the methods to find endogenous sponges and construct exogenous sponges, and briefly compare endogenous and exogenous sponges. We also summarize the current progress on the functional role of miRNA sponges in HCC pathogenesis and present their potential value as diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets. In-depth investigations on the function and mechanism of miRNA sponges in HCC will enrich our knowledge of HCC pathogenesis and contribute to the development of effective diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for HCC.
肝细胞癌（HCC）是全球癌症相关死亡的主要原因。HCC 患者通常在晚期被诊断出来，而针对这种情况的高效疗法非常有限。因此，迫切需要发现有前途的 HCC 诊断生物标志物，在这种情况下，microRNAs（miRNAs）具有很大的潜力。miRNAs 通过直接结合信使 RNA（mRNA）来作为基因表达调节剂，从而导致 mRNA 翻译的抑制或靶 mRNA 的降解。两种主要类型的非编码 RNA 作为竞争性内源海绵体：环状 RNA 和长非编码 RNA。它们可以通过 miRNA 反应元件（MREs）与 miRNA 竞争结合，从而减少与 mRNAs 结合的 miRNA 数量，并在转录后水平调节 miRNA 下游靶基因的表达。已经探索了单个 miRNA 海绵体与 HCC 之间的关系。然而，缺乏对海绵体在 HCC 中的功能的综合综述。在这篇综述中，我们描述了寻找内源性海绵体和构建外源性海绵体的方法，并简要比较了内源性和外源性海绵体。我们还总结了 miRNA 海绵体在 HCC 发病机制中的功能作用的最新进展，并提出了它们作为诊断生物标志物和治疗靶点的潜在价值。对 miRNA 海绵体在 HCC 中的功能和机制的深入研究将丰富我们对 HCC 发病机制的认识，并有助于开发有效的 HCC 诊断生物标志物和治疗靶点。
