MiReven scientists have published a review on Micro RNA-7 in the June 2014 edition of The International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology. The article, entitled “microRNA-7: A tumor suppressor miRNA with therapeutic potential“, is part of a Directed Issue of the Journal entitled, “The Non-coding RNA Revolution”.
The co-authors of the article feature miReven scientific founders Felicity Kalinowski, Keith Giles, and Peter Leedman, and also include their colleagues at the Harry Perkins Institute, Rikki Brown, Clarissa Ganda, Michael Epis and Jessica Horsham.
Abstract: microRNAs are a family of endogenous, short, non-coding RNAs that play critical roles in regulating gene expression for key cellular processes in normal and abnormal physiology. microRNA-7 is a 23 nucleotide miRNA whose expression is tightly regulated and restricted predominantly to the brain, spleen and pancreas. Reduced levels of miR-7 have been linked to the development of cancer and metastasis. As a tumor suppressor, miR-7 functions to co-ordinately downregulate a number of direct (e.g. the epidermal growth factor receptor) and indirect (e.g. phospho-Akt) growth promoting targets to decrease tumor growth in vitro and in vivo. In addition, miR-7 can increase the sensitivity of treatment-resistant cancer cells to therapeutics and inhibit metastasis. These data suggest that replacement of miR-7 (‘miRNA replacement therapy’) for specific human cancers could represent a new treatment approach.
The full article can be accessed here.