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MicroRNAs in endometrial cancer

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Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding ribonucleic acids (RNAs) of approximately 22 bp that induce RNA interference with a complementary messenger RNA (mRNA) and act in silencing of mRNA. miRNAs are strongly associated with cancer development and those involved in carcinogenesis are classified into oncogenic miRNAs and tumor suppressor miRNAs (tumor suppressor miRs). Specific miRNAs are expressed in various tissues and changes in regulation of gene expression are thought to cause carcinogenesis. Thus, tissue-specific miRNAs may be biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and prognosis. Approaches to application of miRNAs as cancer therapy are also ongoing, based on the involvement of miRNAs in carcinogenesis. In endometrial cancer, miRNAs are associated with regulation of gene expression, epigenetic dysfunction and carcinogenesis. Thus, miRNAs are likely to have key roles in diagnosis, prognostic prediction, and therapy in endometrial cancer.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge grant support from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) through a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI), a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (22390313), a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) (22591866), and a Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) (24791718); the Ichiro Kanehara Foundation; Kobayashi Foundation for Cancer Research; Keio University Grant-in-Aid for Encouragement of Young Medical Scientists and the Keio University Medical Science Fund through a Research Grant for Life Sciences and Medicine.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, Keio University, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 160-8582, Japan

    Kouji Banno, Megumi Yanokura, Iori Kisu, Wataru Yamagami, Nobuyuki Susumu & Daisuke Aoki

Authors
  1. Kouji Banno
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  2. Megumi Yanokura
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  3. Iori Kisu
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  4. Wataru Yamagami
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  5. Nobuyuki Susumu
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  6. Daisuke Aoki
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kouji Banno.

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Cite this article

Banno, K., Yanokura, M., Kisu, I. et al. MicroRNAs in endometrial cancer. Int J Clin Oncol 18, 186–192 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10147-013-0526-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10147-013-0526-9

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