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Review
. 2019 May;23(5):3050-3057.
doi: 10.1111/jcmm.14209. Epub 2019 Feb 23.

Small non-coding RNA and colorectal cancer

Hui Chen  1 , Zhiying Xu  1 , Deliang Liu  2
Affiliations
Review

Small non-coding RNA and colorectal cancer

Hui Chen et al. J Cell Mol Med. 2019 May.

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common malignance. Although great efforts have been made to understand the pathogenesis of CRC, the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. It is now clear that more than 90% of the total genome is actively transcribed, but lack of protein-coding potential. The massive amount of RNA can be classified as housekeeping RNAs (such as ribosomal RNAs, transfer RNAs) and regulatory RNAs (such as microRNAs [miRNAs], PIWI-interacting RNA [piRNAs], tRNA-derived stress-induced RNA, tRNA-derived small RNA [tRFs] and long non-coding RNAs [lncRNAs]). Small non-coding RNAs are a group of ncRNAs with the length no more than 200 nt and they have been found to exert important regulatory functions under many pathological conditions. In this review, we summarize the biogenesis and functions of regulatory sncRNAs, such as miRNAs, piRNA and tRFs, and highlight their involvements in cancers, particularly in CRC.

Keywords: colorectal cancer; miRNA; piRNA; small non-coding RNA; tRF.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
miRNA biogenesis and their functions. A miRNA gene is transcribed by RNA polymerase II (Pol II) to form a primary transcript (pri‐miRNA) with a hairpin loop. The hairpin in the pri‐miRNA is identified by the Drosha‐DGCR8 microprocessor complex, and the pri‐miRNA is converted into the pre‐miRNA. The pre‐miRNA is exported from the nucleus into the cytoplasm by Exportin‐5. Then the pre‐miRNA is processed by the RNase III endonuclease Dicer, yielding a miRNA‐double duplex, which is loaded into Argonaute (Ago) protein to generate the RNA‐induced silencing complex (RISC), then one strand of the duplex is degraded while the other guides the RISC to the target mRNA, thus leading to direct mRNA cleavage or translational repressing
Figure 2
Figure 2
The types of tsRNAs are classified by size and sequence location in the tRNA structure. Based on the length and cleavage sites of tRNAs, small non‐coding RNA derived from tRNAs can be classified into two major groups: tRNA‐derived stress‐induced RNA (tiRNAs), with the length of 28‐36 nt, and tRNA‐derived fragment (tRFs), about 14‐30 nt length
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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