miRNAs in pathogenesis, prognosis, and directed therapies of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)

MicroRNAs (miRNAs), are new class of conserved small non-coding RNA that containing about 22 nucleotides and found in eukaryotes. They regulate the expression and can silence RNAs by hybridizing to them. They bind to their complementary sequence in mRNA that leads to a short-ened half-life of mRNA and reduces translational activity so the outcome is less protein. miRNAs play a role in differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells and tumorigenesis. miRNAs act in diverse biological processes including development, cell growth, apoptosis, and hematopoiesis , suggesting their association with cancer. The finding of biomarkers in various levels including genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics levels could provide better treatment for various cancers such as chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). It has been shown that expression of miRNAs could lead to the activation of B cells and BCR. Moreover, exosomes containing miRNAs are one of the other molecules which could contribute to BCR stimulation and progression of CLL cells. Hence, miRNAs and exosomes released from CLL cells could be used as potential diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers for CLL. we review the roles of emerging miRNAs and the miRNAs regulatory networks in CLL pathogenesis, prognosis, and miRNA-directed therapies.

Keywords:

leukemia , blood cancer , genetic engineering , hematopoietic , non-coding RNA , biomarker