The Role of MicroRNA in Paediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia: Challenges for Diagnosis and Therapy.

The Role of MicroRNA in Paediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia: Challenges for Diagnosis and Therapy. J Oncol. 2019;2019:8941471 Authors: Grobbelaar C, Ford AM Abstract Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is the most common cancer of childhood. Although the overall survival of children with ALL is now more than 90%, leukaemia remains one of the leading causes of death from disease. In developed countries, the overall survival of patients with ALL has increased to more than 80%; however, those children cured from ALL still show a significant risk of short- and long-term complications as a consequence of their treatment. Accordingly, there is a need not only to develop new methods of diagnosis and prognosis but also to provide patients with less toxic therapies. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small ribonucleic acids (RNA), usually without coding potential, that regulate gene expression by directing their target messenger RNAs (mRNAs) for degradation or translational suppression. In paediatric ALL, several miRNAs have been observed to be overexpressed or underexpressed in patient cohorts compared to healthy individuals, while numerous studies have identified specific miRNAs that can be used as biomarkers to diagnose ALL, classify it into subgroups, and predict prognosis. Likewise, a variety of miRNAs identify as candidate targets for treatment, although there are numerous obstacles to overcome before their clinical use in patients. Here, we s...
Source: Journal of Oncology - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: J Oncol Source Type: research