mirna

OncomiRs - a new miRNA and cancer focused open access journalOncomiRs is a new open access journal from Emerging Science Journal program, launched recently by Versita.
The journal will publish original research articles and reviews covering all the basics aspects of the microRNAs implication in tumor formation and development as well as their role in the treatment sensitivity and resistance. The OncomiRs’ focus lies on the basic principles of microRNAs implication in the regulation of cellular processes like apoptosis, cell cycle control, metastatic dissemination, cellular senescence and immortalisation. A particular attention is given to microRNA-controlled regulation of cellular oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes.

The journal provides a unique opportunity for academics to highlight their research work in the single specialized microRNA and cancer research journal. Owing to Open Access model, manuscripts accepted for publication are immediately published on-line.

The implications of microRNAs in cancer biology is a topic that has emerged recently, but has already generated a considerable number of papers. The editors  joined the efforts to position this journal as a natural publishing option for authors writing on oncomirs, and to establish it as a hub integrating the relevant research community. Key researchers have supported the journal as members of Editorial Advisory Board, among them: Prof.George Adrian Calin and Prof. Elsa Flores, both from University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA; Prof. Clark Jeffries from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA or Prof. Adrian Harris from University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

Journal Editor – Prof. Benjamin Ory, from Nantes University School of Medicine is positive that the OncomiRs should become the central publication venue for scientists and clinicians active in the field of microRNAs biology and cancer research. He comments: ‘the journal will facilitate the sharing and dissemination of significant contributions and timely research in the emerging field of microRNAs in cancer. Publishing in open access will doubtlessly bring about increased readership and interest from scientists and scholars alike’.

http://www.versita.com/oncom/

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Dates: from 03 September 2012 12:00 to 04 September 2012 17:00
Timezone: Europe/Copenhagen
Location: Eigtveds Pakhus, Copenhagen, Denmark

Registration closes on August 24, 2012.
Abstract submissions are due by August 01, 2012

Confirmed speakers include: Aaron J. Schetter
Anders H. Lund
Carlo M. Croce
Curtis C. Harris
Hadi Valadi
Heiko Hermeking Henrik Ørum
Jan Gorodkin
Jørgen Kjems
Michael G. Katze
Zachary Pincus

Conference website:
http://indico.conferences.dtu.dk/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=114

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CINCINNATI CHILDRENS HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER LOGOCINCINNATI, March 28, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Researchers have taken a critical step in understanding how allergic reactions occur after identifying a genetic signature for regulation of a key immune hormone, interleukin (IL-13).

Scientists from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center say the finding opens the potential for new molecular targets to treat allergic disease. They report on March 28 in Mucosal Immunology that a particular microRNA, miR-375, is regulated by IL-13, and in turns regulates how IL-13 induces pro-allergic changes, particularly in epithelial cells in the lung and esophagus.

The data support a role for miR-375 in asthma and in eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), a severe, often painful food allergy that renders children unable to eat a wide variety of foods. EoE can also cause weight loss, vomiting, heartburn and swallowing difficulties.

“The identification of a microRNA that regulates IL-13-induced changes and inflammatory pathways is a significant advancement for the understanding and future treatment of allergic disease,” says Marc E. Rothenberg, MD, senior investigator on the study and director of the Division of Allergy and Immunology and Center for Eosinophilic Disorders at Cincinnati Children’s. “MiR-375 is proof of principle that microRNAs are involved in fine-tuning IL-13-mediated responses, which opens up a set of new possibilities for novel therapeutic targets for treatment of allergic disease.”

IL-13 induces changes in epithelial gene and protein expression that are important in the onset of many allergic diseases, including EoE. Notably, expression of miR-375 was consistently [click to continue…]

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Recent research published in Gene investigates the relationship between mRNA and miRNA expression levels in different neuronal cell types and neuroblastoma. Using microarray analysis coupled with EGAN (Exploratory Gene Association Networks) software, Liu et al. studied the mRNA-miRNA expression relationships between three neuronal cell types: mature neurons and neural progenitor cells (derived from rat brain tissue) and neuroblastoma cells. The authors concluded that there are expression signatures of mRNA and miRNA transcripts characteristic of each of the different cell types. Most of the over-expressed mRNA transcripts found in mature neurons had low levels of expression in neuroblastoma cells and moderate expression in progenitor cells. The authors found this pattern to be true for transcripts over-expressed in neuroblastoma cells as compared to mature neurons, and that the pathways represented by the over-expressed transcripts in neuroblastoma were related to pathways specific to cancer. The results indicated that a portion of over-expressed mRNA transcripts in mature neuronal cells (or neuroblastoma cells) also had under-expressed miRNA species (within the same cell type) that are predicted to target the over-expressed mRNAs. Validation studies of specific mRNA-miRNA interactions were not reported in this article. The authors conclude their discussion by commenting on the possibility of mRNA-miRNA regulatory network signatures as a tool to identify novel tumor suppressor candidates.

mRNA and miRNA expression in different neuronal cell types

These findings contribute to the growing list of evidence supporting the role of miRNA in cancer regulation as well as in normal tissue development. Liu et al. highlight the proposed interaction between tumor-associated factor Runx1 and miR-370. The expression of Runx1 and miR-370 is inversely proportional in neuroblastoma cells (high Runx1, low miR-370) and mature neurons (low Runx1, high miR-370) with moderate expression of both in neuroprogenitor cells. Their analysis did not confirm the direct regulation of Runx1 mRNA by miR-370, but the network analysis provided in this study may be able to lay the groundwork to isolate important miRNA candidates which are deregulated in neuronal cancers.  Liu et al. shine some light onto the potential of studying miRNA regulation in normal tissue development as a mechanism of learning about normal, functioning pathways which become aberrantly regulated in cancer initiation and progression. Considering the relatedness of normal tissue development and cancer signaling, identifying novel miRNA networks in these two pathways (particularly normal tissue development) can contribute to our further understanding of cancer mechanisms.

Liu, Da-Zhi., et al.
Integrated analysis of mRNA and microRNA expression in mature neurons, neural progenitor cells and neuroblastoma cells
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Gene. 495(2012): p. 120-127.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378111911008250

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The UEA sRNA workbench was developed by the Moulton group at the University of East Anglia and is a new simple to use, downloadable, Java based sRNA software package. It is based on algorithms developed for the 2008 released original UEA sRNA Toolkit. The software will perform a complete analysis of single or multiple-sample sRNA datasets from both plants and animals to identify interesting landmarks (such as detection of novel miRNA sequences) in genetic data. The latest Version 2.3.1 (Released: March 9th 2012) includes now the PAREsnip tool which allows to find targets of small RNAs using the degradome. For more see the PAREsnip page.

Currently, the downloadable version of the UEA sRNA workbench contains a subset of the web-based sRNA toolkit functionality. The later is still available for animal as well as plant and both version can be accessed from the main UEA sRNA toolkit site.

The UEA sRNA workbench is available for download at: srna-workbench.cmp.uea.ac.uk

citation for the original version:
S. Moxon, F. Schwach, D. MacLean, T. Dalmay, D. J Studholme, and V. Moulton
A toolkit for analysing large-scale plant small RNA datasets. 
Bioinformatics
 2008

http://bioinformatics.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/btn428

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Microcosmos of Cancer: A Mini Review

February 21, 2012

In this week’s issue of Nature , two researchers at the Cancer Biology and Genetics Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have published a review discussing the diverse contribution microRNA networks exhibit in cancer biology. Lujambio et. al. discuss both the oncogenic and tumor-suppressor roles microRNA have been attributed in the initiation and progression of multiple [...]

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miRviewer: A multispecies microRNA homologous viewer

February 16, 2012

In order to better understand microRNAs of interest it is of utmost importance to learn about the genomic conservation of these genes. The miRviewer web-server encompasses all known (and some novel) microRNAs of currently fully annotated animal genomes in a visual ‘birds-eye’ view representation. miRviewer provides a graphical outlook of the current microRNA world together [...]

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Regulus Announces New Publication Showing Potential Therapeutic Benefit of Targeting microRNA-21 in Fibrosis

February 16, 2012

-New study published in Science Translational Medicine demonstrates microRNA-21 contributes to fibrogenesis in the kidney -Regulus, in partnership with Sanofi, developing novel anti-fibrotic therapies targeting microRNAs B.N. Chau et al. “MicroRNA-21 Promotes Fibrosis of the Kidney by Silencing Metabolic Pathways” Sci Transl Med 15 February 2012: Vol. 4, Issue 121, p. 121ra18 Sci. Transl. Med. [...]

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miR-375 a potential prognostic marker of head and neck cancers

January 25, 2012

Low-Level Expression of miR-375 Correlates with Poor Outcome and Metastasis While Altering the Invasive Properties of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinomas. Researchers at Department of Pathology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine used global miRNA expression profiling of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) samples and adjacent normal tissue to rank those miRNAs that [...]

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miRdSNP: a database of disease-associated SNPs and microRNA target sites on 3′UTRs of human genes

January 25, 2012

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) can lead to the susceptibility and onset of diseases through their effects on gene expression at the posttranscriptional level. Recent findings indicate that SNPs could create, destroy, or modify the efficiency of miRNA binding to the 3′UTR of a gene, resulting in gene dysregulation. With the rapidly growing number of published [...]

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