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Significance Statement
A large body of research has shown the importance of the canonical myomiRs in muscle development and maintenance, but more recently mis-expression of one or more myomiRs has been found important in a variety of cancers. Whilst most myomiR dysregulation in cancer suggests a tumor-suppressor function, in a significant number of cancers a tumor-enhancer role is seen. This duality of roles is similar to that seen with a number of other important cancer-related miRNAs in different cancer types. This review collates the large body of evidence of myomiR functions in a wide variety of normal tissues and organs and relates these functions to their biological effects on validated target genes during the enhancement of cancer progression.
Journal Reference
World J Biol Chem. 2015;6(3):162-208.
Mitchelson KR, Qin WY.
Keith Richard Mitchelson, Wen-Yan Qin, National Engineering Research Centre for Beijing Biochip Technology, Beijing 102206, China.
Abstract
MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that participate in different biological processes, providing subtle combinational regulation of cellular pathways, often by regulating components of signalling pathways. Aberrant expression of miRNAs is an important factor in the development and progression of disease. The canonical myomiRs (miR-1, -133 and -206) are central to the development and health of mammalian skeletal and cardiac muscles, but new findings show they have regulatory roles in the development of other mammalian non-muscle tissues, including nerve, brain structures, adipose and some specialised immunological cells. Moreover, the deregulation of myomiR expression is associated with a variety of different cancers, where typically they have tumor suppressor functions, although examples of an oncogenic role illustrate their diverse function in different cell environments. This review examines the involvement of the related myomiRs at the crossroads between cell development/tissue regeneration/tissue inflammation responses, and cancer development.
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