Research progress of miroRNA in acute lymphoblastic leukemia

MicroRNA (miRNA) is a kind of single non-coding small RNA molecules with length of 20 to 22 nucleotides, which widely exists in eukaryotic cells, controlling the targeted gene expression through combining with its target gene mRNA to induce degradation or deter a translation process. miRNA is important in the process of cell growth and development, and widely involved in cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, etc. miRNA takes roles in tumor formation through regulating different pathways. Its abnormal expression is closely related to the occurrence of human tumor development. In recent years, several studies have shown that miRNA takes significant part in the process of regulating hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. It is also involved in the occurrence and development of leukemia. Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) is one of the common hematological neoplasms and abnormal expression of miRNA plays an important role in the development process of ALL. At the same time, miRNA also has potential application prospect in ALL including the layered diagnosis, curative effect judgment, prognosis of judgment and the design of drugs targeted. This article reviews literatures on miRNA in ALL. Key words: Leukemia, lymphoid; MicroRNAs; Diagnosis; Molecular targeted therapy