Extracellular circulating viral microRNAs: Current knowledge and perspectives

TY - JOUR

T1 - Extracellular circulating viral microRNAs

T2 - Current knowledge and perspectives

AU - Laganà, Alessandro

AU - Russo, Francesco

AU - Veneziano, Dario

AU - Bella, Sebastiano Di

AU - Giugno, Rosalba

AU - Pulvirenti, Alfredo

AU - Croce, Carlo M.

AU - Ferro, Alfredo

PY - 2013/9/11

Y1 - 2013/9/11

N2 - MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs responsible of post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression through interaction with messenger RNAs (mRNAs). They are involved in important biological processes and are often dysregulated in a variety of diseases, including cancer and infections. Viruses also encode their own sets of miRNAs, which they use to control the expression of either the host's genes and/or their own. In the past few years evidence of the presence of cellular miRNAs in extracellular human body fluids such as serum, plasma, saliva, and urine has accumulated. They have been found either cofractionate with the Argonaute2 protein or in membrane-bound vesicles such as exosomes. Although little is known about the role of circulating miRNAs, it has been demonstrated that miRNAs secreted by virus-infected cells are transferred to and act in uninfected recipient cells. In this work we summarize the current knowledge on viral circulating miRNAs and provide a few examples of computational prediction of their function.

AB - MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs responsible of post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression through interaction with messenger RNAs (mRNAs). They are involved in important biological processes and are often dysregulated in a variety of diseases, including cancer and infections. Viruses also encode their own sets of miRNAs, which they use to control the expression of either the host's genes and/or their own. In the past few years evidence of the presence of cellular miRNAs in extracellular human body fluids such as serum, plasma, saliva, and urine has accumulated. They have been found either cofractionate with the Argonaute2 protein or in membrane-bound vesicles such as exosomes. Although little is known about the role of circulating miRNAs, it has been demonstrated that miRNAs secreted by virus-infected cells are transferred to and act in uninfected recipient cells. In this work we summarize the current knowledge on viral circulating miRNAs and provide a few examples of computational prediction of their function.

KW - Body fluids

KW - Circulating microRNA

KW - Exosomes

KW - microRNA

KW - Vesicules

KW - Viruses

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84883496491&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3389/fgene.2013.00120

DO - 10.3389/fgene.2013.00120

M3 - Review

AN - SCOPUS:84883496491

SN - 1664-8021

VL - 4

JO - Frontiers in Genetics

JF - Frontiers in Genetics

IS - JUN

M1 - Article 120

ER -