Prognostic, Diagnostic, and Therapeutic Applications of MicroRNA Signature

摘要

Micro ribonucleic acids (miRNAs) are a class of noncoding RNAs, which are approximately 22 nucleotides in length and function through posttranscriptional regulation of messenger RNAs. miRNAs are physiologically involved in organism development and cell homeostasis. miRNAs have been shown to be altered in expression in all tumors, including cancers of the upper gastrointestinal tract. miRNAs play a remarkable role in carcinogenesis through the modulation of dozens to hundreds of coding genes. miRNA deregulation may be the causative factor or the consequence of cancer transformation, and miRNA effects are dependent upon the nature of their target genes. Several signaling pathways are affected by miRNAs in upper gastrointestinal cancers. For instance, TGFb signaling is modulated by miRNA-106b, which is at the center of a feedback loop with E2F1.