title: Dysregulation of microRNA biogenesis and gene silencing in cancer.
abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that suppress the abundance of partially complementary mRNAs and inhibit their translation. Each miRNA can regulate hundreds of mRNAs, sometimes strongly but often weakly, to mediate a diverse array of biological functions, including proliferation, cell signaling, differentiation, stress responses and DNA repair, cell adhesion and motility, inflammation, cell survival, senescence, and apoptosis, all intimately related to cancer initiation, treatment response, and metastasis. The expression and activity of miRNAs are spatially and temporally controlled. Global miRNA expression is reduced in many cancers. In addition, the expression and processing of cancer-related miRNAs that act as oncogenes ("oncomiRs") or tumor suppressors are often dysregulated in cancer. In this review, we summarize emerging knowledge about how miRNA biogenesis and gene silencing are altered to promote cancer.
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, Room 252T, Smith Cardiovascular Research Building, 555 Mission Bay Boulevard South, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA. akiko.hata@ucsf.edu judy.lieberman@childrens.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hata
authors.affiliation: Cellular and Molecular Medicine Program, Boston Children's Hospital and Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Warren Alpert Building 255, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. akiko.hata@ucsf.edu judy.lieberman@childrens.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Judy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lieberman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000235:genetics; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000235:genetics; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000235:genetics; D002470:Cell Survival; D004260:DNA Repair; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D020868:Gene Silencing; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm