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MicroRNAs and Stem-like Properties: The Complex Regulation Underlying Stemness Maintenance and Cancer Development

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) have the extraordinary properties to indefinitely proliferate and self-renew in culture to produce different cell progeny through differentiation. This latter process recapitulates embryonic development and requires rounds of the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT). E...

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Autores principales: Divisato, Giuseppina, Piscitelli, Silvia, Elia, Mariantonietta, Cascone, Emanuela, Parisi, Silvia
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8393604/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34439740
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biom11081074
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author Divisato, Giuseppina
Piscitelli, Silvia
Elia, Mariantonietta
Cascone, Emanuela
Parisi, Silvia
author_facet Divisato, Giuseppina
Piscitelli, Silvia
Elia, Mariantonietta
Cascone, Emanuela
Parisi, Silvia
author_sort Divisato, Giuseppina
collection PubMed
description Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) have the extraordinary properties to indefinitely proliferate and self-renew in culture to produce different cell progeny through differentiation. This latter process recapitulates embryonic development and requires rounds of the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT). EMT is characterized by the loss of the epithelial features and the acquisition of the typical phenotype of the mesenchymal cells. In pathological conditions, EMT can confer stemness or stem-like phenotypes, playing a role in the tumorigenic process. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) represent a subpopulation, found in the tumor tissues, with stem-like properties such as uncontrolled proliferation, self-renewal, and ability to differentiate into different cell types. ESCs and CSCs share numerous features (pluripotency, self-renewal, expression of stemness genes, and acquisition of epithelial–mesenchymal features), and most of them are under the control of microRNAs (miRNAs). These small molecules have relevant roles during both embryogenesis and cancer development. The aim of this review was to recapitulate molecular mechanisms shared by ESCs and CSCs, with a special focus on the recently identified classes of microRNAs (noncanonical miRNAs, mirtrons, isomiRs, and competitive endogenous miRNAs) and their complex functions during embryogenesis and cancer development.
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spelling pubmed-83936042021-08-28 MicroRNAs and Stem-like Properties: The Complex Regulation Underlying Stemness Maintenance and Cancer Development Divisato, Giuseppina Piscitelli, Silvia Elia, Mariantonietta Cascone, Emanuela Parisi, Silvia Biomolecules Review Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) have the extraordinary properties to indefinitely proliferate and self-renew in culture to produce different cell progeny through differentiation. This latter process recapitulates embryonic development and requires rounds of the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT). EMT is characterized by the loss of the epithelial features and the acquisition of the typical phenotype of the mesenchymal cells. In pathological conditions, EMT can confer stemness or stem-like phenotypes, playing a role in the tumorigenic process. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) represent a subpopulation, found in the tumor tissues, with stem-like properties such as uncontrolled proliferation, self-renewal, and ability to differentiate into different cell types. ESCs and CSCs share numerous features (pluripotency, self-renewal, expression of stemness genes, and acquisition of epithelial–mesenchymal features), and most of them are under the control of microRNAs (miRNAs). These small molecules have relevant roles during both embryogenesis and cancer development. The aim of this review was to recapitulate molecular mechanisms shared by ESCs and CSCs, with a special focus on the recently identified classes of microRNAs (noncanonical miRNAs, mirtrons, isomiRs, and competitive endogenous miRNAs) and their complex functions during embryogenesis and cancer development. MDPI 2021-07-21 /pmc/articles/PMC8393604/ /pubmed/34439740 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biom11081074 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Divisato, Giuseppina
Piscitelli, Silvia
Elia, Mariantonietta
Cascone, Emanuela
Parisi, Silvia
MicroRNAs and Stem-like Properties: The Complex Regulation Underlying Stemness Maintenance and Cancer Development
title MicroRNAs and Stem-like Properties: The Complex Regulation Underlying Stemness Maintenance and Cancer Development
title_full MicroRNAs and Stem-like Properties: The Complex Regulation Underlying Stemness Maintenance and Cancer Development
title_fullStr MicroRNAs and Stem-like Properties: The Complex Regulation Underlying Stemness Maintenance and Cancer Development
title_full_unstemmed MicroRNAs and Stem-like Properties: The Complex Regulation Underlying Stemness Maintenance and Cancer Development
title_short MicroRNAs and Stem-like Properties: The Complex Regulation Underlying Stemness Maintenance and Cancer Development
title_sort micrornas and stem-like properties: the complex regulation underlying stemness maintenance and cancer development
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8393604/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34439740
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biom11081074
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