Progress in research on genetic variations in miRNA regulatory pathway / 中华医学遗传学杂志

ABSTRACT

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of highly conserved small noncoding RNAs which can regulate gene expression by post-transcriptional degradation or translational repression. miRNAs are involved in the regulation of cell apoptosis, proliferation, differentiation and other physiological processes, and are closely related with development of cancer. More recently, it has been proposed that the presence of genetic variations in microRNA genes, their biogenesis pathway and target binding sites can affect the miRNA processing machinery and targeting, therefore have a significant genetic effect. Since polymorphisms in a miRNA regulatory pathway can result in the loss or gain of a miRNA function and can affect the expression of hundreds of genes, more and more evidence suggested a strong association of miRNA polymorphisms with disease progression, diagnosis and prognosis. Whether in the pathogenesis research of complex diseases or finding biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis, polymorphisms in the miRNA regulatory pathway have an extremely important value for research.