Abstract
PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are emerging players in cancer genomics. Originally described in the germline, there are over 20,000 piRNA genes in the human genome. In contrast to microRNAs, piRNAs interact with PIWI proteins, another member of the Argonaute family, and function primarily in the nucleus. There, they are involved in the epigenetic silencing of transposable elements in addition to the transcriptional regulation of genes. It has recently been demonstrated that piRNAs are also expressed across a variety of human somatic tissue types in a tissue-specific manner. An increasing number of studies have shown that aberrant piRNA expression is a signature feature across multiple tumour types; however, their specific tumorigenic functions remain unclear. In this article, we discuss the emerging functional roles of piRNAs in a variety of cancers, and highlight their potential clinical utilities.
Highlights
With the realization that less than 3 % of the transcribed human genome is translated into protein, there has been a surge of interest in the role of the non-coding RNA transcriptome and its contribution to pathogenesis [1,2,3,4]
Two recent studies done in clear cell renal carcinoma implicated Pelement-induced wimpy testis (PIWI)-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) as being of important prognostic value: Busch et al identified three piRNAs significantly associated with overall survival and tumour progression, two of which were able to serve as independent prognostic markers [80], and Li et al described a three-piRNA signature located on chromosome 17 that was shown to be associated with metastasis, stage, and cancer-specific survival [79]
Conclusions and future directions The advent of high-throughput sequencing technologies has effectively enabled the delineation of the crucial roles of non-coding RNA in pathogenesis as well as in normal cellular biology
Summary
With the realization that less than 3 % of the transcribed human genome is translated into protein, there has been a surge of interest in the role of the non-coding RNA transcriptome and its contribution to pathogenesis [1,2,3,4]. Aberrant expression of the piRNA/PIWI complex and its correlation with clinical features in malignant tissues points to a role for piRNAs in cancer. Liver piR-Hep1 upregulated deep sequencing of cell lines, validated in matched [81] tumour-normal tissues via PCR
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