Deciphering the role of microRNA 21 in cancer stem cells (CSCs)

Irrespective of positive developments of cancer treatment, the mortality due to various cancers remains high and the mechanisms of cancer initiation and the development also remains mysterious. As we know that microRNAs are considered to be a short noncoding RNA molecules consisting of 21-25 nucleotides (nt) in length and they silence their target genes by inhibiting mRNA translation or degrading the mRNA molecules by binding to their 3'-untranslated (UTR) region and play a very important role in cancer biology. Recent evidences indicate that miR-21 is over expressed in cancer stem cells and plays a vital role in cell proliferation, apoptosis, and invasion. Even though an increased expression level of miR-21 has been observed in cancer stem cells, studies related to the role of miR-21 in cancer stem cells are limited. The main aim of this mini review is to explain the potency of miR-21 in various cancer stem cells (CSCs) and as a new target for therapeutic interventions of cancer progression. Copyright (C) 2016, Chongqing Medical University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).