Apoptosis and the target genes of microRNA-21

Abstract

MicroRNA-21 (miR-21) is frequently up-regulated in cancer and the majority of its reported targets are tumor suppressors. Through functional suppression, miR-21 is implicated in practically every walk of oncogenic life: the promotion of cell proliferation, invasion and metastasis, genome instability and mutation, inflammation, replicative immortalization, abnormal metabolism, angiogenesis, and evading apoptosis, immune destruction, and growth suppressors. In particular, miR-21 is strongly involved in apoptosis. In this article, we reviewed the experimentally validated targets of miR-21 and found that two thirds are linked to intrinsic and/or extrinsic pathways of cellular apoptosis. This suggests that miR-21 is an Oncogene which plays a key role in resisting programmed cell death in cancer cells and that targeting apoptosis is a viable therapeutic option against cancers expressing miR-21.

Regression of A549 lung cancer tumors by anti-miR-150 vector

“…miR-21 is an oncogene, which plays a key role in programmed cell death resistance in cancer cells. miR-21 has been implicated in practical aspects of oncogenic life: the promotion of cell proliferation, invasion, metastasis, and evasion of apoptosis (31). miR-373 has been shown to regulate cell cycle progression by targeting PPP6C transcripts in vitro.…”

MicroRNA-21 in the pathogenesis of acute kidney injury

“…Apoptosis is carried out through both an intrinsic pathway and an extrinsic pathway that ultimately result in the activation of effector apoptotic-specifi c proteases, which cleave structural proteins, signal transducers, regulators of transcription, repair factors, and many other targets within the cell (Buscaglia and Li, 2011). However, the onset of AKI does not always lead to cell death, rather it is dependently associated with TECs that survive from the insult.…”

Evaluation of the pri-miR-34b/c rs4938723 polymorphism and its association with breast cancer risk

“…Cumulative evidence suggests that the dysregulation of miRNA expression is involved in the tumorigenesis by acting as tumor suppressors or oncogenes (11-15). Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) or mutations in miRNA genes can affect the miRNA biosynthesis and expression of target genes, therefore resulting in diverse functional consequences and thereby possibly representing potentially important biomarkers for the prognosis of cancer (7,(16)(17)(18).…”

“…Cumulative evidence suggests that the dysregulation of miRNA expression is involved in the tumorigenesis by acting as tumor suppressors or oncogenes (11-15). Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) or mutations in miRNA genes can affect the miRNA biosynthesis and expression of target genes, therefore resulting in diverse functional consequences and thereby possibly representing potentially important biomarkers for the prognosis of cancer (7,(16)(17)(18).The pri-miR-34b/c gene resides in a CpG island within the intron of the B-cell translocation gene 4. Therefore, it is expected that pri-miR-34b/c is co-transcribed by either the promoter of the protein-coding gene or by its own transcription initiation region, as is the case with the majority of miRNAs, whether they are intergenic or located within the introns of protein coding genes (9).…”