Laboratório de Genética Humana e Médica, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Genética e Biologia Molecular, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém 66.075-110, PA, Brazil.
Programa de Pós-Graduacão em Oncologia e Ciências Médicas, Núcleo de Pesquisas em Oncologia, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém 66.073-000, PA, Brazil.
Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Mar 19;21(6):2126. doi: 10.3390/ijms21062126.
Gastric cancer is currently the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, usually diagnosed at late stages. The development of new biomarkers to improve its prevention and patient management is critical for disease control. piRNAs are small regulatory RNAs important for gene silencing mechanisms, mainly associated with the silencing of transposable elements. piRNA pathways may also be involved in gene regulation and the deregulation of piRNAs may be an important factor in carcinogenic processes. Thus, several studies suggest piRNAs as potential cancer biomarkers. Translational studies suggest that piRNAs may regulate key genes and pathways associated with gastric cancer progression, though there is no functional annotation in piRNA databases. The impacts of genetic variants in piRNA genes and their influence in gastric cancer development remains elusive, highlighting the gap in piRNA regulatory mechanisms knowledge. Here, we discuss the current state of understanding of piRNA-mediated regulation and piRNA functions and suggest that genetic alterations in piRNA genes may affect their functionality, thus, it may be associated with gastric carcinogenesis.
In the era of precision medicine, investigations about genetic and epigenetic mechanisms are essential to further comprehend gastric carcinogenesis and the role of piRNAs as potential biomarkers for translational research.
胃癌是目前全球癌症相关死亡的第三大主要原因，通常在晚期诊断。开发新的生物标志物以改善其预防和患者管理对于疾病控制至关重要。piRNA 是一种重要的基因沉默机制的小调控 RNA，主要与转座元件的沉默有关。piRNA 途径也可能参与基因调控，piRNA 的失调可能是致癌过程中的一个重要因素。因此，一些研究表明 piRNA 是潜在的癌症生物标志物。转化研究表明，piRNA 可能调节与胃癌进展相关的关键基因和途径，尽管 piRNA 数据库中没有功能注释。piRNA 基因的遗传变异及其对胃癌发展的影响仍不清楚，这突显了 piRNA 调控机制知识方面的差距。在这里，我们讨论了 piRNA 介导的调控和 piRNA 功能的当前理解状态，并提出 piRNA 基因的遗传改变可能会影响其功能，因此可能与胃癌发生有关。
在精准医学时代，对遗传和表观遗传机制的研究对于进一步理解胃癌发生和 piRNA 作为潜在的转化研究生物标志物的作用至关重要。
