Skip Navigation


Carcinogenesis Advance Access originally published online on March 19, 2008
Carcinogenesis 2008 29(9):1710-1716; doi:10.1093/carcin/bgn073
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplementary Data
Right arrow Supplementary Data
Right arrow Supplementary Material
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
29/9/1710    most recent
bgn073v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (5)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wu, M.
Right arrow Articles by Shen, S.-H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Wu, M.
Right arrow Articles by Shen, S.-H.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Genetic variations of microRNAs in human cancer and their effects on the expression of miRNAs

Meiqun Wu1,{dagger}, Normand Jolicoeur2,{dagger}, Zhen Li1,{dagger}, Linhua Zhang1,2, Yves Fortin2, Denis L'Abbe2, Zhenbao Yu2 and Shi-Hsiang Shen1,2,*

1 Department of Medicine, McGill University, Montréal, Québec H3G 1A4, Canada
2 Health Sector, Biotechnology Research Institute, National Research Council of Canada, 6100 Royalmount Avenue, Montréal, Québec H4P 2R2, Canada

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +1 514 496 6318; Fax: +1 514 496 6319; Email: shi.shen{at}cnrc-nrc.gc.ca

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression at the posttranscriptional level to lead to mRNA degradation or repressed protein production. The expression of miRNA is deregulated in many types of cancers. To determine whether genetic alterations in miRNA genes are associated with cancers, we have systematically screened sequence variations in several hundred human miRNAs from >100 human tumor tissues and 20 cancer cell lines. We identified 8 new single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 14 novel mutations (or very rare SNPs) that specifically present in human cancers. These mutations/SNPs are distributed in the regions of pri-, pre- and even mature miRNAs, respectively. Importantly, whereas most of the mutations did not exert detectable effects on miRNA function, a G -> A mutation at 19 nt downstream of miRNA let-7e led to a significant reduction of its expression in vivo, indicating that miRNA mutation could contribute to tumorigenesis. These data suggest that further screening for genetic variations in miRNA genes from a wide variety of human cancers should increase the discovery and identification of molecular diagnostic and therapeutic targets and complement the mutation analysis of consensus coding sequences in human cancers.

Abbreviations: miRNA, microRNA; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; RT, reverse transcription; SNP, single-nucleotide polymorphism; ssRNA, single-stranded RNA

{dagger} These authors contributed equally to this work.

Received December 21, 2007; revised February 19, 2008; accepted March 7, 2008.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 CarcinogenesisHome page
M. Fabbri, N. Valeri, and G. A. Calin
MicroRNAs and genomic variations: from Proteus tricks to Prometheus gift
Carcinogenesis, June 1, 2009; 30(6): 912 - 917.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.