Sarkar Neelanjana, Kumar Arun
Department of Molecular Reproduction, Development and Genetics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 560012 India.
Indian J Surg Oncol. 2021 Apr;12(Suppl 1):52-56. doi: 10.1007/s13193-020-01110-w. Epub 2020 Jun 6.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small (~ 18-25 nucleotides in length), endogenous, non-coding RNAs, which regulate gene expression. Numerous studies have demonstrated the dysregulation of miRNA expression in human cancers through various mechanisms, which include genetic alteration of miRNA genes, abnormal transcriptional control of miRNAs, anomalous epigenetic changes, and defective miRNA biogenesis machinery. They may function as either oncomiRs or tumor suppressor miRNAs in a tissue or cell-specific manner. The dysregulated miRNAs are known to affect the hallmarks of cancer, and some of these miRNAs have shown therapeutic promise in pre-clinical and clinical studies. Here, we briefly touch upon various aspects of miRNA biology with a particular focus on their roles in cancer.
微小RNA（miRNA）是一类小的（长度约为18 - 25个核苷酸）内源性非编码RNA，可调节基因表达。大量研究表明，miRNA表达在人类癌症中通过多种机制发生失调，这些机制包括miRNA基因的遗传改变、miRNA的异常转录控制、异常的表观遗传变化以及有缺陷的miRNA生物合成机制。它们可能以组织或细胞特异性的方式作为癌基因miRNA或肿瘤抑制miRNA发挥作用。已知失调的miRNA会影响癌症的特征，其中一些miRNA在临床前和临床研究中已显示出治疗前景。在此，我们简要介绍miRNA生物学的各个方面，特别关注它们在癌症中的作用。
