Cancer Link: MicroRNA grabs the spotlight
By Nathan Seppa
A type of genetic molecule barely on the radar screen of scientists a decade ago has emerged as a major player in cancer biology. Known as microRNA because they consist of short strands of ribonucleic acid (RNA), these molecules can team with a known cancer-causing protein to accelerate the growth of cancer, one research group reports. Another team has found that some microRNA molecules inhibit a compound that keeps cell replication in check.
These findings suggest that microRNA plays a major role in regulating gene activation, says Scott M. Hammond of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an investigator on one of the studies.