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MicroRNA: Novel hallmark of cancer
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Abstract:
MicoRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA molecules of approximately 22 nucleotides in length, endogenously present in humans, animals, plants, and some viruses, which function as post-transcriptional regulators in numerous biological processes. MiRNAs can be either oncogenic or anti-oncogenic. Aberrant miRNA expression is the hallmarks of cancer and thus miRNA profiling may help monitor tumor growth and progression. Accumulating evidence suggest that circulating miRNAs, stably expressed in human peripheral blood, can accurately reflect the status of cancer, thus having great potential to serve as novel diagnostic and/or prognostic biomarkers for cancer. Conventionally, miRNA detection mainly involves Northern blotting, microarray, qRT-PCR, and lately next-generation sequencing. In recent years, significant improvement has been made in miRNA-based therapeutic strategies including miRNA mimicking and lipidosome-mediated miRNA delivery. However, some technological difficulties remain, which has restricted the wider application of these strategies in clinics. It is highly anticipated that miRNAs will play more significant roles in cancer diagnose and treatment in clinics when these difficulties are well managed.
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Project Supported:
Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81201607), and the Foundation for Distinguished Young Scientists of Hebei Province (No. H2014206320)
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