Journal Article•
Oncomirs : microRNAs with a role in cancer
TL;DR: I MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are an abundant class of small non-protein-coding RNAs that function as negative gene regulators as discussed by the authors, and have been shown to repress the expression of important cancer-related genes and might prove useful in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
Abstract: I MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are an abundant class of small non-protein-coding RNAs that function as negative gene regulators. They regulate diverse biological processes, and bioinformatic data indicates that each miRNA can control hundreds of gene targets, underscoring the potential influence of miRNAs on almost every genetic pathway. Recent evidence has shown that miRNA mutations or mis-expression correlate with various human cancers and indicates that miRNAs can function as tumour suppressors and oncogenes. miRNAs have been shown to repress the expression of important cancer-related genes and might prove useful in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
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TL;DR: An important role of miRNAs in hepatic energy metabolism is suggested and the participation of mi RNAs in the pathophysiological processes of NAFLD is implicate.
174 citations
TL;DR: Some new possible biomarkers in the diagnosis of CKD and in the prediction of outcome are presented, including asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), symmetric dimethylamine (SDMA), uromodulin, kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1), neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), miRNA, ncRNA, and lincRNA biomarkers and proteomic and metabolomic biomarkers.
Abstract: In its early stages, symptoms of chronic kidney disease (CKD) are usually not apparent. Significant reduction of the kidney function is the first obvious sign of disease. If diagnosed early (stages 1 to 3), the progression of CKD can be altered and complications reduced. In stages 4 and 5 extensive kidney damage is observed, which usually results in end-stage renal failure. Currently, the diagnosis of CKD is made usually on the levels of blood urea and serum creatinine (sCr), however, sCr has been shown to be lacking high predictive value. Due to the development of genomics, epigenetics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, the introduction of novel techniques will allow for the identification of novel biomarkers in renal diseases. This review presents some new possible biomarkers in the diagnosis of CKD and in the prediction of outcome, including asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA), uromodulin, kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1), neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), miRNA, ncRNA, and lincRNA biomarkers and proteomic and metabolomic biomarkers. Complicated pathomechanisms of CKD development and progression require not a single marker but their combination in order to mirror all types of alterations occurring in the course of this disease. It seems that in the not so distant future, conventional markers may be exchanged for new ones, however, confirmation of their efficacy, sensitivity and specificity as well as the reduction of analysis costs are required.
174 citations
TL;DR: This is the first study to report that increased miR-21 expression is associated with disease progression and survival in stage I lung cancer, and suggests that expression of mi R-21 may contribute to lung carcinogenesis and serve as a therapeutic target or early-stage prognostic biomarker for lung adenocarcinoma.
Abstract: Purpose: There is increasing evidence that altered microRNA expression is associated with tumor progression and survival in cancer patients. We tested if the expression of specific microRNAs was associated with prognosis and disease progression in early-stage lung adenocarcinoma. Experimental Design: The expression of miR-21 , miR-17 , and miR-155 was measured by quantitative RT-PCR in tissues from 317 non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients that originated from Maryland, Norway, and Japan. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analysis evaluated associations of microRNA expression with cancer-specific mortality and disease-free survival. Results: Elevated miR-21 (HR 2.06, 1.13–3.75), miR-17 (HR 2.00, 1.10–3.61), and miR-155 (HR 2.37, 1.27–4.42) was associated with worse cancer-specific mortality in the Maryland cohort. These were evaluated in two additional cohorts and only miR-21 was associated with worse cancer-specific mortality in the Norwegian cohort (HR 2.78, 1.22–6.31) and worse relapse-free survival in the Japanese cohort (HR 2.82, 1.57–5.07). More advanced stage tumors expressed significantly higher levels of miR-21 compared with TNM stage I tumors. TNM stage I patients were evaluated separately and high levels of miR-21 was associated with worse cancer-specific mortality (HR 2.16, 1.11–4.21) and relapse-free survival (3.40, 1.57–7.36) independent of other clinical factors. Conclusions: This is the first study to report that increased miR-21 expression is associated with disease progression and survival in stage I lung cancer. This suggests that expression of miR-21 may contribute to lung carcinogenesis and serve as a therapeutic target or early-stage prognostic biomarker for lung adenocarcinoma. Clin Cancer Res; 17(7); 1875–82. ©2011 AACR .
173 citations
TL;DR: Emerging evidence is highlighted that supports a role for lncRNAs in cancer with implications for the development of novel diagnostics and therapeutics.
Abstract: The therapeutic response and clinical outcome of patients diagnosed with the same cancer type and that receive identical treatment is highly variable to reflect the genetic heterogeneity within tumor cells. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are recently discovered molecules that regulate eukaryotic gene expression and represent a significant advance towards a better understanding of the mechanisms that govern cellular growth. NcRNAs are essential for the proper regulation of cell proliferation and survival under physiologic conditions and are deregulated in many pathologies, e.g., human cancers. NcRNAs have been associated with cancer diagnosis, staging, treatment response, metastasis and survival and include distinct subtypes, e.g., long ncRNAs (lncRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs). LncRNAs have been linked to essential growth-promoting activities and their deregulation contributes to tumor cell survival. A prominent example is the Hox transcript antisense intergenic lncRNA, HOTAIR, that cooperates with the polycomb repressive complex to reprogram chromatin organization. HOTAIR expression is deregulated in a spectrum of cancers and HOTAIR expression correlates with patient survival. Here, we highlight emerging evidence that supports a role for lncRNAs in cancer with implications for the development of novel diagnostics and therapeutics.
173 citations
TL;DR: It is reported that EBV-miR-BART1 is highly expressed in NPC and closely associated with pathological and advanced clinical stages of NPC and has a critical role in the late stage of nasopharyngeal carcinoma by driving tumour metastasis.
Abstract: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), aetiologically linked to nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), is the first human virus found to encode many miRNAs However, how these viral miRNAs precisely regulate the tumour metastasis in NPC remains obscure Here we report that EBV-miR-BART1 is highly expressed in NPC and closely associated with pathological and advanced clinical stages of NPC Alteration of EBV-miR-BART1 expression results in an increase in migration and invasion of NPC cells in vitro and causes tumour metastasis in vivo Mechanistically, EBV-miR-BART1 directly targets the cellular tumour suppressor PTEN Reduction of PTEN dosage by EBV-miR-BART1 activates PTEN-dependent pathways including PI3K-Akt, FAK-p130(Cas) and Shc-MAPK/ERK1/2 signalling, drives EMT, and consequently increases migration, invasion and metastasis of NPC cells Reconstitution of PTEN rescues all phenotypes generated by EBV-miR-BART1, highlighting the role of PTEN in EBV-miR-BART-driven metastasis in NPC Our findings provide new insights into the metastasis of NPC regulated by EBV and advocate for developing clinical intervention strategies against NPC
173 citations
References
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TL;DR: Although they escaped notice until relatively recently, miRNAs comprise one of the more abundant classes of gene regulatory molecules in multicellular organisms and likely influence the output of many protein-coding genes.
32,946 citations
TL;DR: Two small lin-4 transcripts of approximately 22 and 61 nt were identified in C. elegans and found to contain sequences complementary to a repeated sequence element in the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of lin-14 mRNA, suggesting that lin- 4 regulates lin- 14 translation via an antisense RNA-RNA interaction.
11,932 citations
TL;DR: A new, bead-based flow cytometric miRNA expression profiling method is used to present a systematic expression analysis of 217 mammalian miRNAs from 334 samples, including multiple human cancers, and finds the miRNA profiles are surprisingly informative, reflecting the developmental lineage and differentiation state of the tumours.
Abstract: Recent work has revealed the existence of a class of small non-coding RNA species, known as microRNAs (miRNAs), which have critical functions across various biological processes. Here we use a new, bead-based flow cytometric miRNA expression profiling method to present a systematic expression analysis of 217 mammalian miRNAs from 334 samples, including multiple human cancers. The miRNA profiles are surprisingly informative, reflecting the developmental lineage and differentiation state of the tumours. We observe a general downregulation of miRNAs in tumours compared with normal tissues. Furthermore, we were able to successfully classify poorly differentiated tumours using miRNA expression profiles, whereas messenger RNA profiles were highly inaccurate when applied to the same samples. These findings highlight the potential of miRNA profiling in cancer diagnosis.
9,470 citations
TL;DR: The predicted regulatory targets of mammalian miRNAs were enriched for genes involved in transcriptional regulation but also encompassed an unexpectedly broad range of other functions.
5,246 citations
TL;DR: The two RNase III proteins, Drosha and Dicer, may collaborate in the stepwise processing of miRNAs, and have key roles in miRNA-mediated gene regulation in processes such as development and differentiation.
Abstract: Hundreds of small RNAs of approximately 22 nucleotides, collectively named microRNAs (miRNAs), have been discovered recently in animals and plants. Although their functions are being unravelled, their mechanism of biogenesis remains poorly understood. miRNAs are transcribed as long primary transcripts (pri-miRNAs) whose maturation occurs through sequential processing events: the nuclear processing of the pri-miRNAs into stem-loop precursors of approximately 70 nucleotides (pre-miRNAs), and the cytoplasmic processing of pre-miRNAs into mature miRNAs. Dicer, a member of the RNase III superfamily of bidentate nucleases, mediates the latter step, whereas the processing enzyme for the former step is unknown. Here we identify another RNase III, human Drosha, as the core nuclease that executes the initiation step of miRNA processing in the nucleus. Immunopurified Drosha cleaved pri-miRNA to release pre-miRNA in vitro. Furthermore, RNA interference of Drosha resulted in the strong accumulation of pri-miRNA and the reduction of pre-miRNA and mature miRNA in vivo. Thus, the two RNase III proteins, Drosha and Dicer, may collaborate in the stepwise processing of miRNAs, and have key roles in miRNA-mediated gene regulation in processes such as development and differentiation.
5,191 citations