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24 - Roles of microRNAs in cancer and development

from V - MicroRNAs in disease biology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2009

By
Andrea Ventura ,
Madhu S. Kumar  and
Tyler Jacks
Edited by
Krishnarao Appasani
Foreword by
Sidney Altman  and
Victor R. Ambros
Andrea Ventura
Affiliation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Biology and Center for Cancer Research 40 Ames Street, E17-518 Cambridge, 02139 MA USA
Madhu S. Kumar
Affiliation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Biology and Center for Cancer Research 40 Ames Street, E17-518 Cambridge, 02139 MA USA
Tyler Jacks
Affiliation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Biology and Center for Cancer Research 40 Ames Street, E17-518 Cambridge, 02139 MA USA
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Summary

Introduction

The recent discovery of microRNAs (miRNAs) and the factors that control their biogenesis and function has revealed novel and unexpected mechanisms for gene regulation (Ambros, 2004; Bartel, 2004; Bagga et al., 2005). The realization that microRNAs are involved in biological processes including cell proliferation, apoptosis and differentiation has led many to speculate that their abnormal function might contribute to the pathogenesis of human cancer (McManus, 2003; Chen, 2005; Couzin, 2005; Croce and Calin, 2005; Eder and Scherr, 2005; Gregory and Shiekhattar, 2005; Hammond, 2006). More recently, these speculations have been supported by experimental evidence including miRNA profiling of human and murine cancers, mutation analysis of human tumors and characterization of mice and cells carrying conditional and constitutive loss of function alleles of genes involved in microRNA biogenesis. Although considerable additional research is required, these initial results suggest that both a global change in miRNA expression and more specific alteration of individual miRNAs might contribute to tumorigenesis.

Here we will first review the evidence pointing to a role for global changes in miRNA expression in tumorigenesis and the methodologies used to detect these changes. We will further discuss the phenotypic consequences of loss of function mutations of Dicer1, an enzyme essential for miRNA biogenesis. Finally, we will explore individual miRNAs that have been implicated in the regulation of genes involved in oncogenesis.

Type
Chapter
Information
MicroRNAs
From Basic Science to Disease Biology
 , pp. 322 - 337
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

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  • Roles of microRNAs in cancer and development
    • By Andrea Ventura, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Biology and Center for Cancer Research 40 Ames Street, E17-518 Cambridge, 02139 MA USA, Madhu S. Kumar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Biology and Center for Cancer Research 40 Ames Street, E17-518 Cambridge, 02139 MA USA, Tyler Jacks, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Biology and Center for Cancer Research 40 Ames Street, E17-518 Cambridge, 02139 MA USA
  • Edited by Krishnarao Appasani
  • Foreword by Sidney Altman, Victor R. Ambros
  • Book: MicroRNAs
  • Online publication: 22 August 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511541766.027
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  • Roles of microRNAs in cancer and development
    • By Andrea Ventura, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Biology and Center for Cancer Research 40 Ames Street, E17-518 Cambridge, 02139 MA USA, Madhu S. Kumar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Biology and Center for Cancer Research 40 Ames Street, E17-518 Cambridge, 02139 MA USA, Tyler Jacks, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Biology and Center for Cancer Research 40 Ames Street, E17-518 Cambridge, 02139 MA USA
  • Edited by Krishnarao Appasani
  • Foreword by Sidney Altman, Victor R. Ambros
  • Book: MicroRNAs
  • Online publication: 22 August 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511541766.027
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Roles of microRNAs in cancer and development
    • By Andrea Ventura, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Biology and Center for Cancer Research 40 Ames Street, E17-518 Cambridge, 02139 MA USA, Madhu S. Kumar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Biology and Center for Cancer Research 40 Ames Street, E17-518 Cambridge, 02139 MA USA, Tyler Jacks, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Biology and Center for Cancer Research 40 Ames Street, E17-518 Cambridge, 02139 MA USA
  • Edited by Krishnarao Appasani
  • Foreword by Sidney Altman, Victor R. Ambros
  • Book: MicroRNAs
  • Online publication: 22 August 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511541766.027
Available formats
×