循环microRNA与肿瘤诊断

miRNA是一类小分子调控RNA,在肿瘤的发生与控制方面发挥着重要的作用.已经发现在肿瘤患者的循环核酸中存在源自肿瘤的miRNA分子,这一现象提示循环miRNA分子可能成为无创诊断癌症的一个有效的方法.本文综述了循环miRNA作为循环生物标志物在肿瘤诊断中的应用,以及该领域的最新研究进展.     

miRNA在肝细胞癌中的研究进展和展望

微小RNA(microRNA, miRNA)是一类长度为二十几个核苷酸的内源性非编码调控RNA,通过序列特异性翻译抑制或mRNA裂解来调控基因表达,参与细胞发育、增殖、分化、凋亡等一系列重要生物学进程。近期的研究发现,miRNA具有癌基因和抑癌基因的作用,在肿瘤的发生和发展中起着重要的作用。已发现若干miRNA直接参与肝细胞癌的发生和发展,miRNA表达谱与肝细胞癌的诊断、分期、进展和预后等相关。作为一类新的分子靶标,miRNA应用于肝细胞癌的诊断和生物治疗具有广阔的前景。     

miRNA表达谱与上皮性卵巢癌

Micro RNA(miRNA)是近年来研究发现的一种高度保守,长度大约19-25个核苷酸的非编码小分子RNA,起着调控基因表达的作用。目前认为miRNA能调控细胞周期、凋亡、分化、发育和新陈代谢等,参与肿瘤的发生与发展,因此异常表达的miRNAs表达谱有可能成为一种全新的肿瘤分子标记物。相关研究表明,miRNA能够以一种被保护的状态存在于血清及血浆中,因此miRNA表达谱的发现具有易检测性、重现性以及非侵袭性。研究显示血清及血浆中miRNA表达谱可作为上皮性卵巢癌生物信号分子,在上皮性卵巢癌早期诊断、预后判断和化疗药物应用等方面具有不可替代的作用。本文将对miRNA表达谱与上皮性卵巢癌的关系进行一个简单总结。     

LncRNA作为ceRNA调控肿瘤的发生发展

长链非编码RNA(lncRNA)是长度大于200 bp,不编码蛋白质的内源性RNA分子.近年来的研究表明,lncRNA可以作为一种竞争性内源RNA(competing endogenous RNA,ceRNA)吸附miRNA,参与靶基因的表达调控,从而在肿瘤的发生发展中发挥重要的作用.本文从lncRNA作为ceRNA发挥生物学功能这一角度,概述了相关lncRNA在肿瘤发生发展中的作用及机制.揭秘lncRNA与miRNA在肿瘤发生中的相互作用,将为肿瘤的诊断和治疗提供新思路.     

微RNA与肺癌

微RNA(microRNA,miRNA)是一类长度为21～22nt的非编码RNA分子,其通过转录后基因沉默调控靶基因的活性,在包括肺癌在内的肿瘤发生中起重要作用。随着对miRNA靶基因及miRNA分子行为认识的提高,miRNA很有可能成为癌症治疗新的途径。本文介绍了miRNA的生成,miRNA在肺癌中的作用机理及诊断治疗方面的最新进展。     

微小RNA-29与恶性肿瘤

miR-29家族是人类重要的miRNA分子,在多数恶性肿瘤中扮演抑癌RNA分子的作用,因而呈现低表达水平,它通过上调抑癌基因表达及调控相关肿瘤信号通路等机制,抑制恶性肿瘤的增殖、分化、侵袭和转移。miR-29家族不仅能作为恶性肿瘤治疗的靶点,而且在肿瘤的诊断及预后评估方面具有重要价值。     

microRNA的功能及其临床应用

microRNA(miRNA)是一类长度为19~25个核苷酸的非常保守的非编码小RNA分子,在真核生物体内通过与m RNA的3'非翻译区序列不完全互补结合促使m RNA降解或抑制翻译,从而在转录后水平调控基因表达。miRNA在生物体内参与了细胞增殖与凋亡、生长发育、代谢活化、DNA修复等一系列生物学过程,与多种疾病尤其是肿瘤的发生发展密切相关。对miRNA的功能研究已发展到其分子机制层面,大量集中于其靶基因的预测和鉴定及调控相关表观遗传因子,为疾病的诊断、治疗及预后提供了新的线索。我们就miRNA的合成、功能研究及miRNA在临床上的应用前景做简要综述。     

MicroRNA 与肿瘤的相关研究进展

微小RNA(microRNAs,miRNA)是一类22个核苷酸左右的非编码调控RNA。可以通过切割mRNA或者是抑制翻译两种机制,在转录后水平发挥调控生物生长发育的重要作用。目前的研究已经发现microRNA参与调控发育、细胞分化、细胞凋亡等多种生理过程。目前已证实miRNA参与肿瘤发生和进展,miRNA表达谱是肿瘤诊断和预后的指标,miRNA突变、缺失或表达水平的异常与人类肿瘤密切相关,它发挥类似于癌基因或抑癌基因的作用,参与肿瘤细胞的增殖、分化和细胞凋亡过程。本文就miRNA在肿瘤发生发展以及诊断治疗方面的研究进展作一综述。     

微RNA在肿瘤发病相关信号通路中的作用

微RNA(microRNA,miRNA)是一类长约20～22nt的单链非编码RNA,它广泛存在于真核生物中并具有多种生物学功能。研究发现,miRNA在多种肿瘤细胞中表达异常,提示miRNA可能与肿瘤发生有关。MiRNA可以调控其靶基因参与的信号通路,而信号通路的异常和紊乱则在肿瘤的发生中起至关重要的作用。因此,有关miRNA调控信号通路的研究将为肿瘤的诊断和治疗带来福音。     

环状RNA的生物学功能及其在疾病发生中的作用

环状RNA(circular RNA,circRNA)主要包括由外显子转录本构成的、经非线性反向剪接形成的内源性RNA分子和内含子来源的环状RNA分子等两类。研究发现,circRNA在人体细胞中广泛表达,在转录后水平具有调控基因表达的重要功能。有些circRNA具有天然微小RNA(microRNA,miRNA)海绵作用,可通过与miRNA结合而抑制其活性,从而调控miRNA靶标发挥作用。circRNA在动脉粥样硬化、神经系统紊乱、糖尿病和肿瘤等疾病发生过程中起着较为重要的作用,深入研究circRNA的结构和功能可使我们更好地了解疾病的发生机制,提高相关疾病的预防和诊断水平。文章就circRNA的形成、功能及其在疾病发生中的作用等做一综述。     

综述:mTOR信号通路与“炎-癌”转变

慢性炎症是指刺激因素持续作用或其他原因导致的难以消退的炎症反应．它与许多重大疾病的发生、发展密切相关．近年来,慢性炎症在癌症发生发展中的关键作用得到普遍认可,其促癌作用的机制已成为当前生命科学研究热点之一．哺乳动物雷帕霉素靶蛋白(mammalian target of rapamycin, mTOR)是接受细胞内外各种信号、调节细胞生长与代谢的关键分子,多数肿瘤存在mTOR通路的过度激活．最近,我们与其他实验室的研究发现mTOR通路在“炎-癌”转变中起重要作用．本综述将对慢性炎症与癌症的关系、慢性炎症的促癌作用机制做一概括介绍,重点讨论mTOR信号通路介导慢性炎症促癌效应的作用、机制及未来研究方向,为慢性炎症恶性转化分子机制研究提供新的观点．     

Genetic aspects of inflammation and cancer

Chronic inflammation is involved in the pathogenesis of most common cancers. The aetiology of the inflammation is varied and includes microbial, chemical and physical agents. The chronically inflamed milieu is awash with pro-inflammatory cytokines and is characterized by the activation of signalling pathways that cross-talk between inflammation and carcinogenesis. Many of the factors involved in chronic inflammation play a dual role in the process, promoting neoplastic progression but also facilitating cancer prevention. A comprehensive understanding of the molecular and cellular inflammatory mechanisms involved is vital for developing preventive and therapeutic strategies against cancer. The purpose of the present review is to evaluate the mechanistic pathways that underlie chronic inflammation and cancer with particular emphasis on the role of host genetic factors that increase the risk of carcinogenesis.     

Matrix metalloproteinase-8: cleavage can be decisive

Matrix metalloproteinase-8 (MMP-8), also known as collagenase-2 or neutrophil collagenase, was long thought to be expressed solely by maturing neutrophils, and functionally restricted to ECM breakdown. Recent experiments, however, have revealed that this protease can be expressed by a wide variety of cell types and that it plays an important regulatory role in both acute and chronic inflammation. This review intends to give the reader an overview of the most interesting recent findings concerning the role of MMP-8 in inflammation and in cancer progression.     

The interplay between innate and adaptive immunity regulates cancer development

There is increasing clinical and experimental evidence that inflammation and cancer are causally linked. Much progress has been made in understanding how inflammatory cells contribute to cancer development; however, it is still largely unknown which molecular mechanisms are responsible for initiation and maintenance of chronic inflammation associated with developing neoplasms. This review will discuss how the adaptive and innate immune systems interact during physiological and chronic inflammation, with a focus on studies revealing new insights into the role of adaptive immune cells as important regulators of chronic inflammation-associated carcinogenesis. We will speculate on whether current knowledge about the dysregulated interplay between adaptive and innate immunity during chronic inflammatory disorders might be useful in understanding and targeting the underlying mechanisms of chronic inflammation-associated neoplastic progression.This article is a symposium paper from the conference Tumor Escape and its Determinants, held in Salzburg, Austria, on 10–13 October 2004     

Cancer as an overhealing wound: an old hypothesis revisited

What is the relationship between the wound-healing process and the development of cancer? Malignant tumours often develop at sites of chronic injury, and tissue injury has an important role in the pathogenesis of malignant disease, with chronic inflammation being the most important risk factor. The development and functional characterization of genetically modified mice that lack or overexpress genes that are involved in repair, combined with gene-expression analysis in wounds and tumours, have highlighted remarkable similarities between wound repair and cancer. However, a few crucial differences were also observed, which could account for the altered metabolism, impaired differentiation capacity and invasive growth of malignant tumours.     

Surveying the damage: the challenges of developing nucleic acid biomarkers of inflammation

Epidemiological evidence points to a cause and effect relationship between chronic inflammation and human maladies such as cancer, atherosclerosis and autoimmune disease. A critical link between inflammation and disease may lie in the secretion of highly reactive oxygen and nitrogen species by macrophages and neutrophils, including hypohalous acids, nitrous anhydride, and nitrosoperoxycarbonate. Exposure of host epithelial cells to the resulting oxidation, nitration, nitrosation and halogenation chemistries leads to damage of all types of cellular molecules. Since nucleic acids sustain damage representative of the full spectrum of different chemistries and the damage likely plays a causative role in disease etiology, DNA and RNA damage products can serve as surrogates for the short-lived chemical mediators of inflammation, and as markers that provide both mechanistic understanding of the disease process and a means to quantify risk of disease. However, the very small quantities of the damaged molecules pose a challenge to the simultaneous quantification of the spectrum of lesions in the manner of proteomics or metabolomics. The goal of this Highlight is to provide an update on the chemistry of inflammation and the development of biomarkers of inflammation in the age of -omics technologies.