MicroRNAs and Cancer: Premiere Event of the Cancer and Signaling Discussion Group
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
We are proud to announce the premiere event of the Cancer and Signaling Discussion Group. This group is the most recent addition to the Frontiers of Science Program.
Program committee: Brian Dynlacht, New York University; Joan Massague, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Jose Costa, Yale University; Jonathan Licht, Mount Sinai School of Medicine; Neil Gibson, OSI Pharmaceuticals; Pier Paolo Pandolfi, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Ramon Parsons, Columbia University; and Riccardo Dalla-Favera, Columbia University.
Program
1:00 pm - 5:00 pm Presentations:
Carlo Croce, Ohio State University Medical Center, "Pre B Cell Proliferation and Lymphoblastic Leukemia/High Grade Lymphoma in Εμ miR155 Transgenic Mice."
Frank Slack, Yale University, "The let-7 microRNA and Cancer."
Joshua Mendell, Johns Hopkins University, "Myc-regulated microRNAs in Cellular Proliferation and Tumorigenesis."
Jun Lu, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, "MicroRNA Expression in Cancers."
Natasha Caplen, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, NIH, "RNAi: A Story of Transcripts, Targets and Technology."
Abstracts
"Pre B Cell Proliferation and Lymphoblastic Leukemia/High Grade Lymphoma in Εμ miR155 Transgenic Mice"
Carlo Croce
MicroRNAs represent a newly discovered class of posttranscriptional regulatory noncoding small RNAs that bind to targeted mRNAs and either block their translation or initiate their degradation. MicroRNA profiling of hematopoietic lineages in humans and mice showed that some miRNAs are differentially expressed during hematopoietic development, suggesting a role in hematopoietic cell differentiation. In addition, recent studies suggest the involvement of microRNAs in the initiation and progression of cancer. MiR 155 and BIC, its host gene, have been reported to accumulate in human B cell lymphomas, especially diffuse large B cell lymphomas, Hodgkin lymphomas, and certain types of Burkitt lymphomas. Here, we show that the Εμ-mmu-miR155 transgenic mice exhibit initially a preleukemic pre B cell proliferation evident in spleen and bone marrow, followed by frank B cell malignancy. These findings indicate that miR 155 is an oncogenic microRNA directly implicated in the initiation and/or progression of B cell malignancies.
"The let-7 microRNA and Cancer"
Frank Slack
Genes that control cell differentiation and development are frequently mutated in human cancer. MicroRNAs are small regulatory RNAs that are emerging as important regulators of cell division/differentiation and human cancer genes. For example, the let-7 microRNA is one of a number of oncomirs, natural microRNA tumor suppressors in lung tissue, which regulates the RAS oncogene. Oncomirs like let-7 may prove useful to treat lung cancer or enhance current treatments for lung cancer.
Joshua Mendell, "Myc-regulated microRNAs in Cellular Proliferation and Tumorigenesis."
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are ~18-24 nucleotide RNA molecules that regulate the stability or translational efficiency of target mRNAs. Over the last five years, miRNAs have emerged as major regulators of gene expression in multicellular eukaryotes. Additionally, dysregulated miRNA expression is now known to be a frequent feature of human malignancies. Nevertheless, the mechanisms underlying the regulation of miRNA expression in normal and pathologic states have remained poorly characterized. We have demonstrated that the oncogenic transcription factor c-Myc directly controls expression of a group of miRNAs on human chromosome 13 known as the mir-17 cluster. The