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A one-two punch of miR-126/126* against metastasis

Nature Cell Biology volume 15, pages 231–233 (2013)Cite this article

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MicroRNAs regulate cancer metastasis by modulating both the intrinsic properties of tumour cells and their interactions with the tumour stroma. Both strands of the miR-126/miR-126* duplex are now shown to simultaneously target the Sdf-1α cytokine to reduce the recruitment of mesenchymal stem cells and inflammatory monocytes to primary tumours, thereby inhibiting lung metastasis.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important regulators of cancer progression. By suppressing the expression of target genes at the post-transcriptional level, miRNAs regulate intrinsic cancer cell characteristics, including proliferation, apoptosis, stemness, epithelial–mesenchymal transition, migration and invasion1. miRNAs also promote or inhibit metastasis by modulating the interactions of cancer cells with stromal cells residing at the primary tumour as well as at metastasis target organs2. In this issue, Zhang et al. describe a previously unrecognized role of miR-126 and miR-126* in inhibiting breast cancer metastasis by impeding cytokine-dependent infiltration of two important metastasis-promoting stromal cell types into the primary tumour3.

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Figure 1: Multiple roles of miR-126/126* in breast cancer metastasis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangwen Ren and Yibin Kang are in the Department of Molecular Biology, LTL255, Washington Road, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA,

    Guangwen Ren & Yibin Kang

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  1. Guangwen Ren
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  2. Yibin Kang
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Correspondence to Yibin Kang.

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Ren, G., Kang, Y. A one-two punch of miR-126/126* against metastasis. Nat Cell Biol 15, 231–233 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb2703

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