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Circulating MicroRNAs in Cancer

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Book cover Extracellular Nucleic Acids

Part of the book series: Nucleic Acids and Molecular Biology ((NUCLEIC,volume 25))

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small (~22 nucleotide) non-protein-encoding RNAs that posttranscriptionally regulate gene expression via suppression of specific target messenger RNAs. Aberrations in miRNA expression have been associated with cancer and numerous other diseases. Recently, extracellular miRNAs have been found to be present in the circulation, where they exist in a stable, ribonucleaseresistant form. Preliminary reports suggest that tumor-derived circulating miRNAs may serve as a new class of blood-based biomarkers for cancer. Here, we describe early advances in the research field of circulating miRNA, review the possibilities and challenges associated with the development of miRNAs as biomarkers for cancer and other disease states, and discuss the possible biological roles of this newly discovered species of circulating nucleic acid.

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Acknowledgements

We thank our colleagues for their important contributions, and apologize for work not cited due to space considerations.

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Correspondence to Muneesh Tewari .

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Mitchell, P.S., Tewari, M. (2010). Circulating MicroRNAs in Cancer. In: Kikuchi, Y., Rykova, E. (eds) Extracellular Nucleic Acids. Nucleic Acids and Molecular Biology, vol 25. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-12617-8_8

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