Abstract
Small nucleolar RNAs (SnoRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs divided into two classes: C/D box snoRNAs and H/ACA box snoRNAs. The canonical function of C/D box and H/ACA box snoRNAs are 2'-O-ribose methylation and pseudouridylation of ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), respectively. Emerging evidence has demonstrated that snoRNAs are involved in various physiological and pathological cellular processes. Mutations and aberrant expression of snoRNAs have been reported in cell transformation, tumorigenesis, and metastasis, indicating that snoRNAs may serve as biomarkers and/or therapeutic targets of cancer. Hence, further study of the functions and underlying mechanism of snoRNAs is valuable. In this review, we summarize the biogenesis and functions of snoRNAs, as well as the association of snoRNAs in different types of cancers and their potential roles in cancer diagnosis and therapy.
Highlights
Small nucleolar RNAs are an extensively studied non-coding RNAs that primarily accumulate in the nucleoli and consist of 60–300 nucleotides (NTs)
A similar function was reported for SNORD88C, which produced small RNAs derived from snoRNAs containing the box C’ that was complementary to several pre-mRNAs including FGFR3 and regulated the alternative splicing of FGFR3 pre-mRNA [37]
Zhou et al identified that amino-terminal enhancer of split (AES), C/D box snoRNAs, and ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) 2′ -O-methylation are essential for the AML1–ETO–induced self-renewal of leukemia cells in vitro and in vivo [54]
Summary
Small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) are an extensively studied non-coding RNAs that primarily accumulate in the nucleoli and consist of 60–300 nucleotides (NTs). The box C/D family of snoRNAs is characterized by a kink-turn (k-turn) (stem–bulge–stem) structure and contains two conserved sequence elements: box C (RUGAUGA) and box D (CUGA) located at the 5′ and 3′ ends of the RNA molecule, respectively (Figure 1) [1]. Nop, and 15.5kD contribute to maturation, stability, and localization of snoRNAs. There are a few C/D box snoRNAs that do not form canonical snoRNPs to function in RNA methylation [7, 8]. An internal loop is located in the hairpin of H/ACA box snoRNAs with a 9–13 NT sequence on each strand complementary to the substrate RNAs, which forms a so-called pseudouridylation pocket. Similar to the C/D box snoRNAs, a set of core proteins are correlated with the H/ACA box snoRNAs to form stable and functional snoRNPs, including NHP2, NOP10, GAR1, and the pseudouridine synthase dyskerin [8]
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