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The role of microRNAs in normal hematopoiesis and hematopoietic malignancies

Abstract

Over the past few years, it has become evident that microRNAs (miRNAs) play an important regulatory role in various biological processes. Much effort has been put into the elucidation of their biogenesis, and this has led to the general concept that a number of key regulators are shared with the processing machinery of small interfering RNAs. Despite the recognition that several miRNAs play crucial roles in normal development and in diseases, little is known about their exact molecular function and the identity of their target genes. In this review, we report on the biological relevance of miRNAs for the differentiation of normal hematopoietic cells and on the contribution of deregulated miRNA expression in their malignant counterparts.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a grant from the Dutch Cancer Society (RUG 01-2414). The authors declare that this paper contains original unpublished work and is not being submitted for publication elsewhere; that there is no financial or other relationships that might lead to a conflict of interest in this document; that this paper has been read and approved by all the authors; that the requirements for authorship have been met and that each author believes that this paper represents honest work.

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Correspondence to A van den Berg.

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Kluiver, J., Kroesen, BJ., Poppema, S. et al. The role of microRNAs in normal hematopoiesis and hematopoietic malignancies. Leukemia 20, 1931–1936 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2404387

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