Bevacqua Emilia, Farshchi Jasmin, Niklison-Chirou Maria Victoria, Tucci Paola
Department of Pharmacy, Health and Nutritional Sciences, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende, Italy.
Centre for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI-Bath), Department of Pharmacy & Pharmacology, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK.
Cancers (Basel). 2021 Dec 16;13(24):6323. doi: 10.3390/cancers13246323.
Medulloblastoma is the most frequent malignant brain tumour in children. Medulloblastoma originate during the embryonic stage. They are located in the cerebellum, which is the area of the central nervous system (CNS) responsible for controlling equilibrium and coordination of movements. In 2012, medulloblastoma were divided into four subgroups based on a genome-wide analysis of RNA expression. These subgroups are named Wingless, Sonic Hedgehog, Group 3 and Group 4. Each subgroup has a different cell of origin, prognosis, and response to therapies. Wingless and Sonic Hedgehog medulloblastoma are so named based on the main mutation originating these tumours. Group 3 and Group 4 have generic names because we do not know the key mutation driving these tumours. Gene expression at the post-transcriptional level is regulated by a group of small single-stranded non-coding RNAs. These microRNA (miRNAs or miRs) play a central role in several cellular functions such as cell differentiation and, therefore, any malfunction in this regulatory system leads to a variety of disorders such as cancer. The role of miRNAs in medulloblastoma is still a topic of intense clinical research; previous studies have mostly concentrated on the clinical entity of the single disease rather than in the four molecular subgroups. In this review, we summarize the latest discoveries on miRNAs in the four medulloblastoma subgroups.
髓母细胞瘤是儿童中最常见的恶性脑肿瘤。髓母细胞瘤起源于胚胎阶段。它们位于小脑，小脑是中枢神经系统（CNS）中负责控制平衡和运动协调的区域。2012年，基于对RNA表达的全基因组分析，髓母细胞瘤被分为四个亚组。这些亚组分别命名为Wingless、Sonic Hedgehog、3组和4组。每个亚组都有不同的起源细胞、预后和对治疗的反应。Wingless和Sonic Hedgehog髓母细胞瘤是根据引发这些肿瘤的主要突变来命名的。3组和4组有通用名称，因为我们不知道驱动这些肿瘤的关键突变。转录后水平的基因表达由一组小的单链非编码RNA调控。这些微小RNA（miRNA或miR）在细胞分化等多种细胞功能中发挥核心作用，因此，这个调控系统中的任何故障都会导致各种疾病，如癌症。miRNA在髓母细胞瘤中的作用仍然是临床研究的热点；以前的研究大多集中在单一疾病的临床实体上，而不是四个分子亚组。在这篇综述中，我们总结了关于四个髓母细胞瘤亚组中miRNA的最新发现。
