Interplay between microRNAs and the epigenetic machinery: An intricate network

Phospho-ΔNp63α/microRNA network modulates epigenetic regulatory enzymes in squamous cell carcinomas

“…83,85 The ability of microRNAs to regulate the components of the epigenetic machinery, targeting molecules involved in the DNA methylation, histone acetylation, and modulation of transcription factors is also started to emerge creating a controlled feedback mechanism. 3,4,21,22,78,85 Furthermore, accumulating evidence supports a strong potential role for microRNA-dependent regulation in the tumor response to anti-cancer chemotherapeutic treatments, thereby increasing the significance of microRNA-based approaches in personalized therapies of human cancers. 30,31,98,99 …”

“…39 P-ΔNp63α was previously shown to regulate the expression of specific microRNAs in cisplatin-treated SCC-11 cells, subsequently leading to altering of tumor cell response to chemotherapy via mechanisms implicated in cell death and cell survival. [36][37][38][39] We showed here that the p-ΔNp63α expressed in cisplatintreated SCC-11 cells upregulated or downregulated a plethora of various "epi-microRNA" species, 3,4 which are likely to affect the components of epigenetic regulatory machinery, defined by the web-based bioinformatics tools (Fig. 1A).…”

“…1,2 Finally, a modulation of gene expression by non-coding microRNAs is also implicated in epigenetic control of gene expression. [3][4][5][6] microRNAs repress the expression of a variety of target genes involved in a plethora of distinct signaling pathways in development and disease. 7,8 Primary microRNA transcripts are processed by the RNA-induced silencing complex to generate mature microRNAs; the latter form complexes with the specific sequences within mRNA targets based on complementarity.…”

Smoking induces differential miRNA expression in human spermatozoa: A potential transgenerational epigenetic concern?

“…Finally, due to the growing family of epi-miRNAs (miRNAs that target mRNAs involved in epigenetic modification), 43,44 we wanted to determine if any of the smoking-induced differentially expressed spermatozoal miRNAs identified here also targeted as piwi-interacting-RNAs, within human spermatozoa. 35 While this study suggests that only a small number (35) of miRNAs are present within human spermatozoa, only three samples were analyzed.…”

Epigenetics: from the past to the present

“…In addition, some miRNAs (epi-miRNAs) are capable of regulating the expression of components of the epigenetic machinery (eg DNMTs and HDACs), giving rise to a tightly controlled feedback loop. When this regulatory circuit is altered, normal biological functions are disrupted (Iorio et al 2010;Sato et al 2011).…”