小激活RNA(saRNA)--肿瘤治疗新途径

saRNA: the New Anti-tumor Therapy

在基因的表达调控过程中,一系列非编码RNA(non-coding RNA,ncRNA)发挥着广泛作用.然而,作为其重要成员的小激活RNA(small activating RNA,saRNA)却没有得到足够的认识和关注.本篇综述旨在介绍saRNA的机制与功能,并评估它的应用前景.文中归纳该领域的最新进展,特别是有关肿瘤治疗的研究.saRNA能识别基因启动子上特定序列、诱导相应基因的转录,从而实现基因激活.这不仅与siRNA(small interfering RNA)的抑制作用相反,而且有其独特的动力学特征.目前,saRNA研究主要集中于肿瘤领域,并发现它对某些肿瘤的生长和转移具有抑制作用,因而有望开辟肿瘤治疗的新途径.本文结尾简要探讨了saRNA在开发新抗癌药物等方面的应用潜力.

A series of non-coding RNA （ncRNA） plays a wide role in the regulation of gene expression. The small activating RNA （saRNA） , as one kind of ncRNA, plays an important role in the gene activation. However, its significance has not been paid enough understanding and attention. This review is to introduce the mechanism and functions of saRNA, and evaluate its application prospects. In this minireview, we summarized the latest developments in this field, especially on the research of tumor therapy. Via the saRNA we can identify specific gene promoter sequences, induce the corresponding gene transcription, and thus lead to the gene activation. It not only has an opposite effect with siRNA （small interfering RNA） , but also has a unique kinetic characteristic. At present, the studies of saRNA mainly focus on the tumor fields, and it was found that it has inhibitory effect on some certain tumor growth and metastasis, and is expected to open up new ways of tumor treatment. At the end of this minireview, the importance of saRNA is briefly discussed and the potential application in aspects of the development of new anti-cancer drugs was overviewed.