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Editorial
. 2008 Dec 18;359(25):2720-2.
doi: 10.1056/NEJMe0808667.

MicroRNA in cancer prognosis

Frank J Slack, Joanne B Weidhaas
Editorial

MicroRNA in cancer prognosis

Frank J Slack et al. N Engl J Med. .
No abstract available

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Dr. Slack reports holding two pending patents for the use of microRNAs as potential therapeutic and diagnostic markers in cancer, and Dr. Weidhaas, two pending patents for the use of microRNAs in predicting the risk of ovarian cancer and response to chemotherapy. No other potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Drosha and Dicer and the Processing and Function of MicroRNA (miRNA).
Pri-miRNAs, large miRNA precursors, are transcribed from the genome by RNA polymerase II and fold into a hairpin structure that is the substrate for RNA processing by Drosha (cleavage sites shown as dark red arrows) to a pre-miRNA. Pre-miRNAs enter the cytoplasm, where they are further processed by Dicer (and its partner, Loqs–TRBP), resulting in an RNA duplex containing the mature miRNA and the miRNA star sequences. The mature miRNA preferentially enters the miRNA-associated, multiprotein RNA–induced silencing complex (miRISC) and guides it to partially complementary sequences in target messenger RNA (mRNA), leading to repression of their translation. AAAA represents the poly-A tail, and MGpppG denotes the 5′ cap. ORF denotes open reading frame, Ran-GTP Ran guanosine triphosphate, and UTR untranslated region.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

  • Dicer, Drosha, and outcomes in patients with ovarian cancer.
    Merritt WM, Lin YG, Han LY, Kamat AA, Spannuth WA, Schmandt R, Urbauer D, Pennacchio LA, Cheng JF, Nick AM, Deavers MT, Mourad-Zeidan A, Wang H, Mueller P, Lenburg ME, Gray JW, Mok S, Birrer MJ, Lopez-Berestein G, Coleman RL, Bar-Eli M, Sood AK. Merritt WM, et al. N Engl J Med. 2008 Dec 18;359(25):2641-50. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa0803785. N Engl J Med. 2008. PMID: 19092150 Free PMC article.

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