The Small Side of Cancer

In 2002, George Calin, Carlo Croce, and colleagues at Thomas Jefferson University provided the first evidence that microRNAs — small noncoding RNAs that can repress gene expression — were linked to cancer.1 Since then, the field has mounted a massive effort to find out whether those links will be clinically useful.

In the Hot Papers featured here, Croce, now at Ohio State University, and his group tested the link between microRNAs and cancer on a large scale. They carried out a microarray analysis of 363 samples from six frequently found solid-tumor types in humans and 177 controls, revealing that cancer cells have distinct and abnormal microRNA profiles.2 In the second paper, the group followed up by creating the first transgenic mouse to overexpress a microRNA (miR-155), and showed that the deregulation of this one microRNA can lead to cancer.3

"These papers lay the foundation for starting to explore the mechanism ...