Role of stem cell proteins and microRNAs in embryogenesis and germ cell cancer

Abstract

Embryonic stem (ES

An oncofetal and developmental perspective on testicular germ cell cancer

“…SOX2 is expressed in pluripotent and multipotent embryonic and extra-embryonic cells [249]. However according to a number of studies SOX2 is not expressed in developing human germ cells as is the case in mice [248,250,251]. A single study showed SOX2 in normal germ cells/CIS/SE, but the authors stated that this is likely an artifact of a single antibody showing this result [252].…”

“…A single study showed SOX2 in normal germ cells/CIS/SE, but the authors stated that this is likely an artifact of a single antibody showing this result [252]. Instead of SOX2, human germ cell progenitors express SOX17 [195,248,250] which is reflected in SOX17 expression in CIS and SE [23,24,248]. SOX17 is involved in regulating differentiation into primitive endoderm [218,253].…”

MiR-23a Functions as a Tumor Suppressor in Osteosarcoma

“…MiRNAs are incorporated into the RISC complex and base paired to the 3'-untranslated region (3' UTR) of target genes to exert their regulatory effects [7]. MiRNAs regulate several types of physiological and pathological processes, including embryogenesis, cell maintenance, lineage determination, and normal cell physiology [8,9,10,11]. Studies have also shown that miRNAs are involved in tumorigenesis and cancer progression.…”

The Role of miRNAs in Gastric Cancer

“…Currently, over 1000 mammalian miRNAs have been discovered through cloning and sequencing approaches, which include several hundreds miRNAs in humans. miRNAs are composed of 20-22 nucleotides in length, which are processed from larger pri-miRNAs into miRNA duplexes through the cleavage of RNase III enzyme Dicer [6]. One strand of the duplex is associated with the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) while the other strand is universally degraded by cellular nucleases.…”

“…It is predicted that miRNAs may control the activities of more than 60% of all proteincoding genes [10,11]. Of note, miRNA-induced mRNA degradation occurs in mammals, whereas the majority of mammalian miRNAs are thought to inhibit target gene expression by a more immediate and low energy-consumption way, translational regulation, which induces rapid changes of protein synthesis without excessive transcriptional activation and subsequent steps in mRNA processing [6,[12][13][14]. In addition, translational modulation form of gene expression possesses the advantage of being readily reversible, thereby providing the cell with great flexibility in response to different cytotoxic stresses [15].…”