MicroRNA biogenesis pathways in cancer

• Published in: Nature reviews. Cancer Vol. 15; no. 6; pp. 321 - 333
• Main Authors: Lin, Shuibin, Gregory, Richard I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01-06-2015; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/337/384; 631/337/384/331; 631/67/395; 631/67/581; 631/67/589/1588/1683; Animals; Biological Transport; Biomedicine; Cancer; Cancer Research; Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats; Epigenetic inheritance; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Genetic aspects; Humans; Mice; MicroRNA; MicroRNAs - physiology; Neoplasms - genetics; Neoplasms - metabolism; Physiological aspects; review-article; RNA Processing, Post-Transcriptional; United States
• ISSN: 1474-175X; 1474-1768
• DOI: 10.1038/nrc3932

Key Points
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that negatively regulate target gene expression through mRNA degradation or translational inhibition.
The miRNA biogenesis pathway is a multi-step process that has a crucial role in regulating miRNA maturation.
miRNAs can be oncogenes or tumour suppressors and are globally repressed in cancers.
Mutations in or dysregulation of components of the miRNA biogenesis pathway are frequently found in cancers and have important functions in oncogenesis.
Important oncogenic signalling proteins — such as LIN28A, LIN28B, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and Hippo — target miRNA biogenesis in cancers.
The targeting of abnormal miRNA biogenesis pathways is a novel, promising therapeutic strategy for cancers.
The microRNA (miRNA) biogenesis pathway is frequently altered in cancer, leading to global downregulation of miRNA levels in some cancer types. This Review discusses the alterations that affect miRNA biogenesis in cancer.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are critical regulators of gene expression. Amplification and overexpression of individual 'oncomiRs' or genetic loss of tumour suppressor miRNAs are associated with human cancer and are sufficient to drive tumorigenesis in mouse models. Furthermore, global miRNA depletion caused by genetic and epigenetic alterations in components of the miRNA biogenesis machinery is oncogenic. This, together with the recent identification of novel miRNA regulatory factors and pathways, highlights the importance of miRNA dysregulation in cancer.