REVIEW: Small RNAs and Cancerogenesis

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S. S. Ryazansky¹ and V. A. Gvozdev^1,2*

¹Institute of Molecular Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 123182 Moscow, Russia; fax: (499) 196-0221; E-mail: ryazansky@img.ras.ru; gvozdev@img.ras.ru

²Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991 Moscow, Russia

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received December 18, 2007; Revision received January 30, 2008

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Disturbances of microRNA generation and functioning as inhibitors of gene expression at the translational level are considered as specific and diagnostic features of cancer. This review also highlights the role of short interfering RNA (siRNA) in modified epigenomic chromatin structure, which may cause cancer transformation. Future directions of cancer epigenomics are considered in the light of the involvement of siRNA in epigenomic modification of chromatin.

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KEY WORDS: miRNA, siRNA, cancerogenesis, epigenome

DOI: 10.1134/S000629790050040

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