肿瘤相关微小RNA基因表达的表观遗传调控机制

Control of Tumor-related-microRNA Gene Expression by Epigenetic Mechanisms

表观遗传是指非基因序列改变且可以遗传的基因表达水平变化。微小RNA为长度大约22个核苷酸的、在转录后水平下调基因表达的小分子RNA。最近研究表明,微小RNA与肿瘤发生有关,其表达谱可用于人类肿瘤的分类。尽管有大量事实证明了微小RNA在肿瘤发生中的重要性,但人们对其基因表达调控的机制了解很少。基于对表观遗传、微小RNA和肿瘤三者关系的认识,本文主要从DNA甲基化和组蛋白修饰等方面重点介绍了肿瘤相关微小RNA基因表达的表观遗传调控机制的最新进展。

Epigenetics is defined as the heritable changes in gene expression without any alteration in DNA sequence. MicroRNAs （miRNAs） are small RNA molecules of approximately 22 nucleotides in length. They negatively regulate gene expression in posttranscriptional level. Recently, miRNAs have been definitively linked to cancer development. And their expression profiles can be used to classify human cancers. Despite the growing evidences for miRNAs＇ importance in carcinogenesis, little is known about the expression-regulation mechanisms of their genes. Based on the considering the relationships among epigenetics, miRNAs and tumors, this review introduces the progresses of the epigenetic control of gene expression of miRNA, mainly including DNA methylation and histone modification.