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Small nuclear RNAs: new tool for cancer prediction?
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Small non-coding RNAs, long dismissed as 'transcriptional noise' due to their apparently random distribution and lack of any discernible link to known functions, may actually be predictive of individuals who may develop breast cancer. That’s according to a study published today in EMBO Reports from researchers who contribute to The Cancer Genome Atlas project. This project is one of the largest available resources for small non-coding RNAs. The researchers are from the BC Cancer Agency, Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia, all in Vancouver, and Harvard Medical School.

Small non-coding RNAs, as the name suggests, do not give rise to protein products but may have other cellular functions. They are often found near transcriptional start sites but their function is often unclear. In the current study, the researchers were interested in distinguishing between the many different small non-coding RNAs that are found near the transcriptional start sites of genes in healthy individuals versus patients with breast invasive carcinoma. They used a computational technique to filter away some of the ‘transcriptional noise’ and arrived at a subset of small non-coding RNAs which were rich in CpG islands, i.e. in cytosine and guanine residues. They were also negatively correlated with methylation status. These small non-coding RNAs were mapped to specific DNA sequence locations and the researchers then looked to see if there was any relationship between strongly-expressed non-coding RNAs and the disease status of the patients from whom the tissue samples had been taken. Importantly, they used the information generated to try to predict the presence of disease in other tissue samples from breast cancer patients and found that they could efficiently predict the correct disease status for these samples. Thus these RNAs could potentially be used to classify cancer patients according to different survival outcomes.

Dr Steven Jones, the senior author on the study concluded that: "This is the first time that small non-coding RNAs near the transcription start site of genes have been associated with disease….Further work is required but based on our data we believe there is considerable diagnostic potential for these small non-coding RNAs as a predictive tool for cancer. In addition, they may help us understand better the mechanisms underlying oncogenesis at the epigenetic level and lead to potential new drugs employing small non-coding RNAs."

Sources

ZOVOILIS, A., MUNGALL, A.J., MOORE, R., VARHOL, R., CHU, A., WONG, T., MARRA, M. and JONES, S.J.M., 2014. The expression level of small non‐coding RNAs derived from the first exon of protein‐coding genes is predictive of cancer status. EMBO Reports, 2014. DOI: 10.1002/embr.201337950 |Published 17.02.2014

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2...021314.php [Accessed 17 February 2014].
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