Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3RE, UK.
Br J Cancer. 2023 May;128(9):1625-1635. doi: 10.1038/s41416-023-02191-4. Epub 2023 Feb 9.
Transfer RNAs (tRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) essential for protein translation. Emerging evidence suggests that tRNAs can also be processed into smaller fragments, tRNA-derived small RNAs (tsRNAs), a novel class of sncRNAs with powerful applications and high biological relevance to cancer. tsRNAs biogenesis is heterogeneous and involves different ribonucleases, such as Angiogenin and Dicer. For many years, tsRNAs were thought to be just degradation products. However, accumulating evidence shows their roles in gene expression: either directly via destabilising the mRNA or the ribosomal machinery, or indirectly via regulating the expression of ribosomal components. Furthermore, tsRNAs participate in various biological processes linked to cancer, including apoptosis, cell cycle, immune response, and retroviral insertion into the human genome. It is emerging that tsRNAs have significant therapeutic potential. Endogenous tsRNAs can be used as cancer biomarkers, while synthetic tsRNAs and antisense oligonucleotides can be employed to regulate gene expression. In this review, we are recapitulating the regulatory roles of tsRNAs, with a focus on cancer biology.
转移 RNA（tRNA）是小非编码 RNA（sncRNA），对于蛋白质翻译至关重要。新出现的证据表明，tRNA 也可以被加工成更小的片段，即 tRNA 衍生的小 RNA（tsRNA），这是一类新的 sncRNA，具有强大的应用和高度的生物学相关性，与癌症有关。tsRNA 的生物发生具有异质性，涉及不同的核糖核酸酶，如血管生成素和 Dicer。多年来，tsRNA 被认为只是降解产物。然而，越来越多的证据表明它们在基因表达中的作用：直接通过使 mRNA 或核糖体机制失稳，或间接通过调节核糖体成分的表达。此外，tsRNA 参与与癌症相关的各种生物学过程，包括细胞凋亡、细胞周期、免疫反应和逆转录病毒插入人类基因组。现在已经出现 tsRNA 具有显著的治疗潜力。内源性 tsRNA 可用作癌症生物标志物，而合成的 tsRNA 和反义寡核苷酸可用于调节基因表达。在这篇综述中，我们总结了 tsRNA 的调控作用，重点是癌症生物学。
