A Systematic Review of miR-29 in Cancer

• Main Authors: Jason J. Kwon, Tricia D. Factora, Shatovisha Dey, Janaiah Kota
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2019-03-01
• Series: Molecular Therapy: Oncolytics
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2372770518300482

MicroRNAs (miRNA) are small non-coding RNAs (∼22 nt in length) that are known as potent master regulators of eukaryotic gene expression. miRNAs have been shown to play a critical role in cancer pathogenesis, and the misregulation of miRNAs is a well-known feature of cancer. In recent years, miR-29 has emerged as a critical miRNA in various cancers, and it has been shown to regulate multiple oncogenic processes, including epigenetics, proteostasis, metabolism, proliferation, apoptosis, metastasis, fibrosis, angiogenesis, and immunomodulation. Although miR-29 has been thoroughly documented as a tumor suppressor in the majority of studies, some controversy remains with conflicting reports of miR-29 as an oncogene. In this review, we provide a systematic overview of miR-29’s functional role in various mechanisms of cancer and introspection on the contradictory roles of miR-29.