Editor's Summary
9 June 2005
MicroRNA in cancer
MicroRNAs are regulatory, non-coding RNAs about 22 nucleotides in length: over 200 have been identified in humans, and their functions are beginning to be pinned down. It has been suggested that like other regulatory molecules they might be involved in tumour formation, and three papers in this issue confirm that this is the case. One cluster of microRNAs, known as mir-17–92, is shown to be a potential oncogene by its action in an in vivo model of human B-cell lymphoma. A cluster of microRNAs on human chromosome 13 has been found to be regulated by c-Myc, an important transcription factor that is overexpressed in many human cancers. And analysis of microRNA expression in over 300 individuals shows that microRNA profiles could be of value in cancer diagnosis. There is a global downregulation of microRNA in tumours, and the microRNA profile also reflects the origin and differentiation state of the tumours.
News and Views: Cancer genomics: Small RNAs with big impacts
Although they are tiny, microRNAs can have large-scale effects because they regulate a variety of genes. These minuscule molecules are now definitively linked to the development of cancer.
Paul S. Meltzer
doi:10.1038/435745a
Letter: A microRNA polycistron as a potential human oncogene
Lin He, J. Michael Thomson, Michael T. Hemann, Eva Hernando-Monge, David Mu, Summer Goodson, Scott Powers, Carlos Cordon-Cardo, Scott W. Lowe, Gregory J. Hannon and Scott M. Hammond
doi:10.1038/nature03552
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (460K) | Supplementary information
Letter: MicroRNA expression profiles classify human cancers
Jun Lu, Gad Getz, Eric A. Miska, Ezequiel Alvarez-Saavedra, Justin Lamb, David Peck, Alejandro Sweet-Cordero, Benjamin L. Ebert, Raymond H. Mak, Adolfo A. Ferrando, James R. Downing, Tyler Jacks, H. Robert Horvitz and Todd R. Golub
doi:10.1038/nature03702
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (293K) | Supplementary information
Letter: c-Myc-regulated microRNAs modulate E2F1 expression
Kathryn A. O'Donnell, Erik A. Wentzel, Karen I. Zeller, Chi V. Dang and Joshua T. Mendell
doi:10.1038/nature03677
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (339K) | Supplementary information