The functional role of microRNA in acute lymphoblastic leukemia: relevance for diagnosis, differential diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a new class of noncoding RNAs, which can hybridize to target messenger RNAs and regulate their expression posttranscriptionally, express differentially in distinct stages of lymphopoiesis and influence the direction of lymphoid precursor maturation. Hence, there is aberrant expression of miRNAs involved in malignant lymphopoiesis, and these aberrations can be used as signatures of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) with different subtypes. In addition, changes in the expression of several miRNAs may have functional relevance with leukemogenesis or drug resistance. As a result, the reversal of the expression of these miRNAs may alleviate the disease to some extent and improve clinical outcomes. However, among the studies of miRNAs, there are still some problems that need to be solved to understand the function of miRNAs in ALL more thoroughly.
Department of Hematology and Oncology, Zhongda Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China.
Chengxin
C
Luan
State Key Laboratory of Bioelectronics, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China.
Zixue
Z
Yang
Department of Hematology and Oncology, Zhongda Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China.
Baoan
B
Chen
ALL; lymphoid malignant; lymphopoiesis; microRNA; molecular diagnosis; molecular therapy