MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA molecules, approximately 22 nucleotides in length that regulate gene translation through silencing or degradation of target mRNAs. They are involved in multiple biological processes, including differentiation and proliferation, metabolism, hemostasis, apoptosis or inflammation, and in pathophysiology of many diseases. Numerous studies have suggested circulating miRNAs as promising diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of many diseases.
miR-210 represents the major hypoxia-inducible miRNA also known as hypoxamir, which is ubiquitously expressed in a broad range of cells. Emerging evidence has demonstrated that induction of miR-210-3p is a consistent feature of the hypoxic response in both normal and malignant cells. miR-210 has been associated with a variety of functionally important targets involved in cancer, cell cycle regulation, cell survival, differentiation, metabolism as well as in angiogenesis.
Increase miR-210 plasma level has been reported in the context of various cancers and other hypoxia-induced pathological conditions. It has been described that hypoxic cancer cells release exosomes with high levels of miR-210. miR-210 is frequently elevated in osteosarcoma, breast, lung, head and neck, and pancreatic cancer, or glioblastoma. In this regard, it was described that circulating miR-210 was significantly elevated in patients with clear cell or conventional renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) compared with healthy controls. More recently, the amount of miR-210 has been analyzed in cell-free urine as a tool for liquid biopsy in ccRCC and the level of urinary cell-free miR-210 was significantly higher in patients with ccRCC than in control subjects. Furthermore, serum miR-210 was up-regulated in patients with bladder cancer.
Aberrant expression of miR-210 has also been reported in other diseases than cancer. Blood miRNA-210 was significantly decreased in stroke patients and its level was significantly higher in stroke patients with good outcome than that in patients with poor outcome. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that overexpression of miR-210 mediates mitochondrial dysfunction in the placenta of women with pre-eclampsia. miR-210-3p is supposed to be involved in endometriotic cell proliferation and the results show that increased levels of miR-210-3p in endometriotic lesions contribute to endometriosis progression. The potential role of miR-210 in spermatogenesis was also characterized. The results indicated that elevated expression of seminal plasma miR‐210-3p was an independent predictor of impaired spermatogenic function in varicocele patients.
- References to miR-210-3p