Regulation by c-Myc of ncRNA expression

Abstract

Deregulated activity of the proto-oncogene product c-Myc is instrumental in promoting many human cancers. As it is a transcription factor, priority has been given to identifying the genes that it regulates. Until recently, all the attention was focused on protein-encoding genes. It is now clear, however, that c-Myc also controls the production of many non-coding (nc) RNAs, including tRNA, rRNA and miRNAs. This involves it regulating the transcriptional activity of three different RNA polymerases. These ncRNAs are likely to contribute substantially to the complex biology and pathology that is associated with c-Myc.