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Review
. 2015 Mar 30;6(9):6472-98.
doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.3052.

The microRNA-200 family: small molecules with novel roles in cancer development, progression and therapy

Brock Humphries  1   2 , Chengfeng Yang  1   2   3
Affiliations
Review

The microRNA-200 family: small molecules with novel roles in cancer development, progression and therapy

Brock Humphries et al. Oncotarget. .

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a large family of small non-coding RNAs that negatively regulate protein-coding gene expression post-transcriptionally via base pairing between the 5' seed region of a miRNA and the 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) of a messenger RNA (mRNA). Recent evidence has supported the critical role that miRNAs play in many diseases including cancer. The miR-200 family consisting of 5 members (miR-200a, -200b, -200c, -141, -429) is an emerging miRNA family that has been shown to play crucial roles in cancer initiation and metastasis, and potentially be important for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. While miR-200s were found to be critically involved in the metastatic colonization to the lungs in mouse mammary xenograft tumor models, a large number of studies demonstrated their strong suppressive effects on cell transformation, cancer cell proliferation, migration, invasion, tumor growth and metastasis. This review aims to discuss research findings about the role of the miR-200 family in cancer initiation, each step of cancer metastatic cascade, cancer diagnosis and treatment. A comprehensive summary of currently validated miR-200 targets is also presented. It is concluded that miR-200 family may serve as novel targets for the therapy of multiple types of cancer.

Keywords: cancer initiation; cancer metastasis; cancer therapeutic target; miR-200; microRNA.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. The miR-200 family two clusters are located on two different chromosomes
The miR-200 family consists of two clusters: Cluster I (miR-200b, -200a, and -429 is located on chromosome 1) and Cluster II (miR-200c and -141 is located on chromosome 12).
Figure 2
Figure 2. The sequences of the mature miRNA-200 family members
The miR-200 family members can also be separated into two functional groups based upon their seed sequences. Functional Group I is composed of miR-200b, -200c, and -429 and Functional Group II consists of miR-141 and -200a. The seed sequences of these two functional groups only differs by one nucleotide: AAUACUG for group I and AACACUG for group II.
Figure 3
Figure 3. The miR-200s play critical roles in tumor initiation and the metastatic cascade
Some representative miR-200 targets involved in each step of the metastatic cascade are shown. ↓ means promote ┴ means inhibit.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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