MicroRNAs as regulators of mammalian hematopoiesis.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are an abundant class of approximately 22 nucleotide non-coding RNAs and play important regulatory roles in animal and plant development at the post-transcriptional level. Many miRNAs cloned from mouse bone marrow cells are differentially regulated in various hematopoietic lineages, suggesting that they might influence hematopoietic lineage differentiation. miR-181, a miRNA specifically expressed in B cells within mouse bone marrow, promotes B-cell differentiation when expressed in hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. Some human miRNAs are linked to leukemias: the miR-15a/miR-16 locus is frequently deleted or down-regulated in patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia and miR-142 is at a translocation site found in a case of aggressive B-cell leukemia. Collectively, these results indicate that miRNAs may be important regulators of mammalian hematopoiesis. Here, we provide background on the biogenesis and function of miRNAs and discuss how miRNA-mediated post-transcriptional regulation may influence the development and function of blood cells.
Chen
Chang-Zheng
CZ
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Baxter Laboratory of Genetic Pharmacology, Institute for Cancer/Stem Cell Biology and Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305-5175, USA. czchen@stanford.edu
Lodish
Harvey F
HF
D000818:Animals; D004175:Diptera / Q000235:genetics; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006410:Hematopoiesis / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D034622:RNA Interference
D035683:MicroRNAs