CA : A Cancer Journal for Clinicians

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous ∼23 nt RNAs that play important gene-regulatory roles in animals and plants by pairing to the mRNAs of protein-coding genes to direct their posttranscriptional repression. This review outlines the current understanding of miRNA target recognition in animals and discusses the widespread impact of miRNAs on both the expression and evolution of protein-coding genes.

MicroRNAs: Target Recognition and Regulatory Functions

Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology presents multidisciplinary and dynamic findings in the broad fields of experimental medicine and biology. The wide variety in topics it presents offers readers multiple perspectives on a variety of disciplines including neuroscience, microbiology, immunology, biochemistry, biomedical engineering and cancer research. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology has been publishing exceptional works in the field for over 30 years and is indexed in Medline, Scopus, EMBASE, BIOSIS, Biological Abstracts, CSA, Biological Sciences and Living Resources (ASFA-1), and Biological Sciences. The series also provides scientists with up to date information on emerging topics and techniques. 2015 Impact Factor: 1.953

https://ard.bmj.com/content/annrheumdis/55/11/796.3.full.pdf

Advances in experimental medicine and biology

Deep analysis of next-generation sequencing data unveils numerous small non-coding RNAs with distinct functions. Recently, fragments derived from tRNA, named as tRNA-derived small RNA (tsRNA), have attracted broad attention. There are mainly two types of tsRNAs, including tRNA-derived stress-induced RNA (tiRNA) and tRNA-derived fragment (tRF), which differ in the cleavage position of the precursor or mature tRNA transcript. Emerging evidence has shown that tsRNAs are not merely tRNA degradation debris but have been recognized to play regulatory roles in many specific physiological and pathological processes. In this review, we summarize the biogeneses of various tsRNAs, present the emerging concepts regarding functions and mechanisms of action of tsRNAs, highlight the potential application of tsRNAs in human diseases, and put forward the current problems and future research directions.

tRNA-Derived Small RNA: A Novel Regulatory Small Non-Coding RNA

tRNA-derived fragments and tRNA halves: The new players in cancers.

// Xiaomin Liu 1, * , Ping Wang 1, * , Caiyan Zhang 1 and Zhongliang Ma 1 1 Lab for Noncoding RNA and Cancer, School of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, 200444 Shanghai, China * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Zhongliang Ma, email: zlma@shu.edu.cn Keywords: epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), noncoding RNA, precision medicine, lung cancer Received: October 11, 2016      Accepted: March 24, 2017      Published: April 05, 2017 ABSTRACT Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. In tumors, the important role of noncoding RNA regulatory networks has been more and more reveal. EGFR has been identified as an oncogenic driver of NSCLC, especially activating mutations EGFR and its inhibition with specific TKIs can generate dramatic tumor responses. Studies have shown that EGFR plays significant roles in the progression of NSCLC. Subset analysis of the small proportion of patients with EGFR-mutant lung cancer showed a disease-free survival benefit, but was underpowered to detect a survival advantage. Herein, we highlight the progression of EGFR, noncoding RNA, and their roles in carcinogenesis. We also focus on anti-lung cancer drug development and EGFR-related drug resistance.

/pdf/epidermal-growth-factor-receptor-egfr-a-rising-star-in-the-3w17j9rc4m.pdf

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR): A rising star in the era of precision medicine of lung cancer

tRNA-derived RNA fragments (tRFs), non-coding single-stranded RNAs with 14-35 nt in length, were found to play important roles in gene regulation, even in carcinogenesis. In this study, we investigated the expression of tRF-Leu-CAG in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and its function in the cell proliferation and cell cycle of NSCLC. The expression level of tRF-Leu-CAG was detected in NSCLC tissues, cell lines, and sera. tRF-Leu-CAG RNA levels were higher in NSCLC tumor tissues than in normal tissues, and also upregulated in NSCLC cell lines. A significant relationship was observed between stage progression and tRF-Leu-CAG in NSCLC sera. We found that in H1299 cells, inhibition of tRF-Leu-CAG suppressed cell proliferation and impeded cell cycle. AURKA was also repressed with the knockdown of tRF-Leu-CAG. Thus, our study revealed that tRF-Leu-CAG may be involved in regulating AURKA and could be a new diagnostic marker and potential therapeutic target in NSCLC.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/cbdd.12994

tRF-Leu-CAG promotes cell proliferation and cell cycle in non-small cell lung cancer

Lung cancer is the major form of cancer resulting in cancer-related mortality around the world. MicroRNAs are endogenous small non-coding single-stranded RNAs, which can engage in the regulation of gene expression. In this study, miR-18a-5p significantly upregulated in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tissues and NSCLC cell lines, suggesting an oncogenic function in lung cancer. Additionally, miR-18a-5p can promote carcinogenesis by directly targeting interferon regulatory factor 2 (IRF2). Further experiments indicated that IRF2 can increase cell apoptosis, inhibit cell proliferation and migration ability. Our study demonstrates that miR-18a-5p promotes autophagy in NSCLC. Collectively, these results indicate that miR-18a-5p can not only promote NSCLC by suppressing IRF2, but also will be a promising target in the near future.

MicroRNA-18a-5p functions as an oncogene by directly targeting IRF2 in lung cancer.

Lung cancer is one of the most common malignant diseases globally, composed of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC, 85%) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC, 15%). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are single-stranded noncoding RNAs having important roles in lung cancer development. miR-411-5p/3p were reported to be increased significantly in human NSCLC tissues and cell lines. Moreover, miR-411-5p/3p overexpression could accelerate cell proliferation and migration, and impede cell apoptosis in NSCLC cell lines. Mechanically, SPRY4 is confirmed a direct target of miR-411-5p/3p. Furthermore, our findings showed that miR-411-5p/3p promoted lung tumor growth in vivo, decreased SPRY4 expression dramatically, and induced EGFR, AKT signaling activation, as well as epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) simultaneously in tumor tissues. In addition, we showed that miR-411-5p also targeted tumor suppressor TXNIP, involved in regulating positively cell cycle progress in SPC-A1 cells rather than in H1299. Whether cell specificity of low TXNIP mRNA level in H1299 is responsible for the different response to cell cycle between H1299 and SPC-A1 would need further explorations. Collectively, these results suggest that miR-411-5p/3p are required for NSCLC development by suppressing SPRY4 and TXNIP; thus, the miR-411-SPRY4-AKT axis might act as a promising target for lung cancer therapy clinically.

/pdf/oncogenic-microrna-411-promotes-lung-carcinogenesis-by-2jnv3rsu6h.pdf

Xiaomin Liu

Papers

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR): A rising star in the era of precision medicine of lung cancer

tRF-Leu-CAG promotes cell proliferation and cell cycle in non-small cell lung cancer

MicroRNA-18a-5p functions as an oncogene by directly targeting IRF2 in lung cancer.

Oncogenic microRNA-411 promotes lung carcinogenesis by directly targeting suppressor genes SPRY4 and TXNIP

MiR-183-5p is required for non-small cell lung cancer progression by repressing PTEN