Brain microRNAs and insights into biological functions and therapeutic potential of brain enriched miRNA-128

Molecular Cancer

Review

Yogita K Adlakha¹  Neeru Saini¹ 

[1] Functional Genomics Unit, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi, India;

关键词: miRNA;    miRNA-128;    Brain;    Cancer;    Apoptosis;    Cholesterol;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1476-4598-13-33

 received in 2013-09-26, accepted in 2014-02-12,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

MicroRNAs, the non-coding single-stranded RNA of 19–25 nucleotides are emerging as robust players of gene regulation. Plethora of evidences support that the ability of microRNAs to regulate several genes of a pathway or even multiple cross talking pathways have significant impact on a complex regulatory network and ultimately the physiological processes and diseases. Brain being a complex organ with several cell types, expresses more distinct miRNAs than any other tissues. This review aims to discuss about the microRNAs in brain development, function and their dysfunction in brain tumors. We also provide a comprehensive summary of targets of brain specific and brain enriched miRNAs that contribute to the diversity and plasticity of the brain. In particular, we uncover recent findings on miRNA-128, a brain-enriched microRNA that is induced during neuronal differentiation and whose aberrant expression has been reported in several cancers. This review describes the wide spectrum of targets of miRNA-128 that have been identified till date with potential roles in apoptosis, angiogenesis, proliferation, cholesterol metabolism, self renewal, invasion and cancer progression and how this knowledge might be exploited for the development of future miRNA-128 based therapies for the treatment of cancer as well as metabolic diseases.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Adlakha and Saini; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014