A new study provides evidence that noncoding RNAs and interactions between noncoding genes play a much greater role in human cancer than was previously understood.
The research, published by Cell Press in the September issue of the journal Cancer Cell, may be useful for identifying tumor-specific signatures associated with diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of cancer.
Malignant cells exhibit genetic alterations in oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes. More recently, a large class of noncoding RNA transcripts called microRNAs (miRNAs) has also been included in the genetic signature of cancer. MicroRNAs are small RNAs that can regulate gene expression by inhibiting protein translation, and recent research has implicated miRNAs in cancer initiation and progression.
Dr. Carlo M. Croce from Ohio State University, Dr. Massimo Negrini from the University of Ferrara, Italy, and colleagues investigated the role of additional classes of highly conserved noncoding RNAs in human cancer that have not been studied to the extent of miRNAs. “This research will offer new insights into the molecular mechanisms and signal transduction pathways altered in cancer and may present opportunities for the identification of new molecular markers and potential therapeutic agents,” explains Dr. Croce.