The influence of microRNA in thyroid cancer

Abstract

In the last decade, considerable advances in understanding the oncogenesis of thyroid cancer, including aspects that involve microRNAs (miRNAs). These miRNAs are a recently identified class of small RNAs, that act as potent supressors of protein synthesis by inhibiting translation through binding with target mRNAs, and regulating biological processes as cell differentiation, proliferation and apoptosis, and also participating in pathogenesis of diseases like cancer. In thyroid cancer, several miRNAs have altered expression, recognizing the increase of miR-146b, miR-221, miR-222 and miR-21, and decrease of miR-151, miR-148 and let-7f. However, the functional mechanism of the altered expression of miRNAs remains unclear. In this project, we aim at evaluating the role of miR-21 in thyroid cancer. For that, the expression of miR-21 will be induced in normal thyroid cells and reduced (interference of RNA) in thyroid cancer cells, including anaplastic carcinoma. We plan to study the effect in proliferation and invasion through in vitro and in vivo studies in nude mice. this project may contribute to understanding the functional role of miRNA in cancer, particularly in thyroid oncogenesis.