• Submit to IJMS Login Register
• MDPI
• Journals A-Z
• For Authors
• For Editors
• About
• Open Access Policy

• Abstract
• Full-Text PDF [687 KB]
• Full-Text XML
• Article Versions Notes

• Article Statistics
• PubMed/Medline
• Google Scholar
• Order Reprints

• Cite this article
• Export to BibTeX
• Export to EndNote

• [+] on DOAJ
• Grammatikakis, I
• Gorospe, M
• Abdelmohsen, K
• [+] on Google Scholar
• Grammatikakis, I
• Gorospe, M
• Abdelmohsen, K
• [+] on PubMed
• Grammatikakis, I
• Gorospe, M
• Abdelmohsen, K

•  CiteULike
•  Facebook
•  Mendeley
•  Twitter

This article is

• freely available
• re-usable

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2013, 14(1), 1822-1842; doi:10.3390/ijms14011822

Review

Modulation of Cancer Traits by Tumor Suppressor microRNAs

Ioannis Grammatikakis, Myriam Gorospe and Kotb Abdelmohsen*

Laboratory of Genetics, National Institute on Aging-Intramural Research Program, National Institutes of Health, 251 Bayview Blvd, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 20 November 2012; in revised form: 28 December 2012 / Accepted: 10 January 2013 / Published: 16 January 2013

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Non-Coding RNAs 2012)

Download PDF Full-Text [687 KB, Updated Version, uploaded 24 January 2013 09:11 CET]

The original version is still available [670 KB, uploaded 16 January 2013 11:11 CET]

Abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are potent post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression. In mammalian cells, miRNAs typically suppress mRNA stability and/or translation through partial complementarity with target mRNAs. Each miRNA can regulate a wide range of mRNAs, and a single mRNA can be regulated by multiple miRNAs. Through these complex regulatory interactions, miRNAs participate in many cellular processes, including carcinogenesis. By altering gene expression patterns, cancer cells can develop specific phenotypes that allow them to proliferate, survive, secure oxygen and nutrients, evade immune recognition, invade other tissues and metastasize. At the same time, cancer cells acquire miRNA signature patterns distinct from those of normal cells; the differentially expressed miRNAs contribute to enabling the cancer traits. Over the past decade, several miRNAs have been identified, which functioned as oncogenic miRNAs (oncomiRs) or tumor-suppressive miRNAs (TS-miRNAs). In this review, we focus specifically on TS-miRNAs and their effects on well-established cancer traits. We also discuss the rising interest in TS-miRNAs in cancer therapy.

Keywords: post-transcriptional gene regulation; oncomiR; tumor suppressor microRNA; senescence; carcinogenesis

Article Statistics

Cite This Article