Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Biol Chem. Aug 26, 2015; 6(3): 162-208
Published online Aug 26, 2015. doi: 10.4331/wjbc.v6.i3.162
Roles of the canonical myomiRs miR-1, -133 and -206 in cell development and disease
Keith Richard Mitchelson, Wen-Yan Qin
Keith Richard Mitchelson, Wen-Yan Qin, National Engineering Research Centre for Beijing Biochip Technology, Beijing 102206, China
Wen-Yan Qin, Medical Systems Biology Research Centre, Tsinghua University School of Medicine, Beijing 102206, China
Author contributions: Both authors contributed to this manuscript.
Supported by National High-tech Program of China, Nos. 2006AA020701 and 2009AA022701.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Keith Richard Mitchelson, National Engineering Research Centre for Beijing Biochip Technology, 18 Life Science Parkway, Zhonghuan Life Science Park, Beijing 102206, China. keith_mitchelson@hotmail.com
Telephone: +86-10-61777524 Fax: +86-10-80726898
Received: April 11, 2014
Peer-review started: April 12, 2014
First decision: May 14, 2014
Revised: May 8, 2015
Accepted: May 27, 2015
Article in press: May 28, 2015
Published online: August 26, 2015
Abstract

MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that participate in different biological processes, providing subtle combinational regulation of cellular pathways, often by regulating components of signalling pathways. Aberrant expression of miRNAs is an important factor in the development and progression of disease. The canonical myomiRs (miR-1, -133 and -206) are central to the development and health of mammalian skeletal and cardiac muscles, but new findings show they have regulatory roles in the development of other mammalian non-muscle tissues, including nerve, brain structures, adipose and some specialised immunological cells. Moreover, the deregulation of myomiR expression is associated with a variety of different cancers, where typically they have tumor suppressor functions, although examples of an oncogenic role illustrate their diverse function in different cell environments. This review examines the involvement of the related myomiRs at the crossroads between cell development/tissue regeneration/tissue inflammation responses, and cancer development.

Keywords: Muscle microRNAs, MiR-1, MiR-206, MiR-133a, MiR-133b, Cell development, Cancer

Core tip: The roles of the canonical muscle-associated microRNAs are reviewed, including microRNA families miR-1 and miR-133, and single miR-206, which are collectively known as the “myomiRs”. The myomiRs act at the crossroads of the molecular regulation of muscle cells, linking between pathways for cell differentiation, development and maintenance, but also potentiate aberrant cell growth in numerous non-muscle cancers. Typically myomiRs are downregulated in cancers, but some myomiRs are upregulated in a few cancers, yet each dysregulation event advances tumor progression. The review examines normal and disease-linked molecular changes associated with the myomiRs, and collates the extensive literature into accessible tables.