TRNA-derived RNA Fragments in Cancer: Current Status and Future Perspectives

Overview

Journal J Hematol Oncol

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialties Hematology
Oncology

Date 2020 Sep 5

PMID 32887641

Citations 91

Authors

Mengqian Yu

Bingjian Lu

Jisong Zhang

Jinwang Ding

Pengyuan Liu

Yan Lu

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) have been the focus of many studies over the last few decades, and their fundamental roles in human diseases have been well established. Transfer RNAs (tRNAs) are housekeeping ncRNAs that deliver amino acids to ribosomes during protein biosynthesis. tRNA fragments (tRFs) are a novel class of small ncRNAs produced through enzymatic cleavage of tRNAs and have been shown to play key regulatory roles similar to microRNAs. Development and application of high-throughput sequencing technologies has provided accumulating evidence of dysregulated tRFs in cancer. Aberrant expression of tRFs has been found to participate in cell proliferation, invasive metastasis, and progression in several human malignancies. These newly identified functional tRFs also have great potential as new biomarkers and therapeutic targets for cancer treatment. In this review, we focus on the major biological functions of tRFs including RNA silencing, translation regulation, and epigenetic regulation; summarize recent research on the roles of tRFs in different types of cancer; and discuss the potential of using tRFs as clinical biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and prognosis and as therapeutic targets for cancer treatment.

Citing Articles

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The role of tRNA-Derived small RNAs (tsRNAs) in pancreatic cancer and acute pancreatitis.

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tRNA-derived small RNAs: their role in the mechanisms, biomarkers, and therapeutic strategies of colorectal cancer.

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