Ren Xiang, Liu Gang, Zhou Jianping
Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Nanjing Street 155, Shenyang, 110001, China.
Department of Colorectal Hernia Surgery, Binzhou Medical University Hospital, Yantai, China.
Cancer Cell Int. 2025 Apr 15;25(1):147. doi: 10.1186/s12935-025-03760-8.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that traditionally recognized as negative regulators of gene expression through post-transcriptional regulation in the cytoplasm. However, recent discoveries have unveiled some novel miRNA functions in the cell nucleus, where a subset of miRNAs, termed nuclear-activating miRNAs (NamiRNAs), play pivotal roles in gene activation and transcriptional regulation for cancer and immunity disease. The discovery of NamiRNAs demonstrated a complementary regulatory function of miRNA, showing their differential activities in the nucleus and cytoplasm. This review aims to explore the biogenesis, mechanisms, and regulatory functions of NamiRNAs, deciphering their involvement in NamiRNA-gene network for gene expression modulation, and emerging significance as drug targets against cancer.
微小RNA（miRNA）是一类小的非编码RNA，传统上被认为是通过细胞质中的转录后调控来作为基因表达的负调节因子。然而，最近的发现揭示了miRNA在细胞核中的一些新功能，其中一部分被称为核激活微小RNA（NamiRNA）的miRNA在癌症和免疫疾病的基因激活和转录调控中发挥着关键作用。NamiRNA的发现证明了miRNA的一种互补调节功能，显示了它们在细胞核和细胞质中的不同活性。本综述旨在探讨NamiRNA的生物发生、机制和调控功能，解读它们在NamiRNA-基因网络中对基因表达调控的参与情况，以及作为抗癌药物靶点的新意义。
