Korać Petra, Antica Mariastefania, Matulić Maja
Department of Biology, Division of Molecular Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Horvatovac 102, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
Division of Molecular Biology, Rudjer Bosković Institute, Bijenička 54, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
Biomedicines. 2021 Mar 23;9(3):325. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines9030325.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding RNA involved in the regulation of specific mRNA translation. They participate in cellular signaling circuits and can act as oncogenes in tumor development, so-called oncomirs, as well as tumor suppressors. miR-7 is an ancient miRNA involved in the fine-tuning of several signaling pathways, acting mainly as tumor suppressor. Through downregulation of PI3K and MAPK pathways, its dominant role is the suppression of proliferation and survival, stimulation of apoptosis and inhibition of migration. Besides these functions, it has numerous additional roles in the differentiation process of different cell types, protection from stress and chromatin remodulation. One of the most investigated tissues is the brain, where its downregulation is linked with glioblastoma cell proliferation. Its deregulation is found also in other tumor types, such as in liver, lung and pancreas. In some types of lung and oral carcinoma, it can act as oncomir. miR-7 roles in cell fate determination and maintenance of cell homeostasis are still to be discovered, as well as the possibilities of its use as a specific biotherapeutic.
微小RNA（miRNA）是一类短链非编码RNA，参与特定mRNA翻译的调控。它们参与细胞信号转导通路，在肿瘤发生发展过程中可作为癌基因（即所谓的致癌miRNA），也可作为肿瘤抑制因子。miR-7是一种古老的miRNA，参与多种信号通路的微调，主要发挥肿瘤抑制作用。通过下调PI3K和MAPK通路，其主要作用是抑制细胞增殖和存活、促进细胞凋亡以及抑制细胞迁移。除了这些功能外，它在不同细胞类型的分化过程、应激保护和染色质重塑中还有许多其他作用。研究最多的组织之一是大脑，其下调与胶质母细胞瘤细胞增殖有关。在其他肿瘤类型中也发现了其失调，如在肝脏、肺和胰腺中。在某些类型的肺癌和口腔癌中，它可作为致癌miRNA。miR-7在细胞命运决定和细胞稳态维持中的作用仍有待发现，以及其作为特异性生物治疗手段的可能性也有待探索。
