microRNA and stem cell function

Abstract

The identification and characterization of stem cells for various tissues has led to a greater understanding of development, tissue maintenance, and cancer pathology. Stem cells possess the ability to divide throughout their life and to produce differentiated daughter cells while maintaining a population of undifferentiated cells that remain in the stem cell niche and that retain stem cell identity. Many cancers also have small populations of cells with stem cell characteristics. These cells have been called cancer stem cells and are a likely cause of relapse in cancer patients. Understanding the biology of stem cells and cancer stem cells offers great promise in the fields of regenerative medicine and cancer treatment. microRNAs (miRNAs) are emerging as important regulators of post-transcriptional gene expression and are considered crucial for proper stem cell maintenance and function. miRNAs have also been strongly implicated in the development and pathology of cancer. In this review, we discuss the characteristics of various stem cell types, including cancer stem cells, and the importance of miRNAs therein.

MicroRNAs and glioblastoma; the stem cell connection

“…28 An important theme is the emerging role of microRNAs in the regulation of stem cell self-renewal and differentiation. 29 Ablation of Dicer leads to defects in embryonic stem (ES) cell division and proliferation, 30 causing death in mice and a complete loss of pluripotent stem cells. 31 Dicer ablated ES cells also fail to differentiate; thus microRNAs can affect stem cell behavior at the levels of both proliferation and differentiation.…”

Let-7b and microRNA-199a inhibit the proliferation of B16F10 melanoma cells

“…microRNAs are small, non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression by binding to mRNA 3'UTRs, which results in mRNA degradation or translation (4)(5)(6)(7)(8). microRNA regulates embryonic development, cell proliferation, apoptosis, cell differentiation, lipid metabolism and other important cellular functions, particularly in tumor development, where its function is similar to that of oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes (9)(10)(11). When oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes are disrupted, or the activity of telomerase persists, tumorigenesis occurs.…”

Monitoring microRNAs Using a Molecular Beacon in CD133+/CD338+Human Lung Adenocarcinoma-initiating A549 Cells

“…Accordingly, these molecules could constitute a powerful therapeutic strategy for interfering with cancer initiation and progression (Garofalo and Croce, 2011). Moreover, miRNAs have been implicated in the control of self-renewal in stem cells (Hatfield and Ruohola-Baker, 2008). Georgantas et al found that miRNA-155 played a role in normal human myelopoiesis, lung differentiation, and erythropoieis, and a recent study has shown that a high level of hsamiR-155 is associated with a poor outcome in lung cancer (Georgantas et al, 2007;Wang et al, 2009b).…”