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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Visualizing Genetic Variants, Short Targets, and Point Mutations in the Morphological Tissue Context with an RNA In Situ Hybridization Assay
Published on: August 14, 2018
New perspectives on neoplasia and the RNA world
Peter A Hall1, Se Hilary Russell
1Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology, Queen's University Belfast, U Floor, Belfast City Hospital, Belfast, BT9 7AB, Northern Ireland, UK. peter.hall@qub.ac.uk
Abstract:
Key tenets of modern biology are the central place of protein in cell regulation and the flow of genetic information from DNA to RNA to protein. However, it is becoming increasingly apparent that genomes are much more complex than hitherto thought with remarkably complex regulatory systems. The notion that the fraction of the genome involved in coding protein is all that matters is increasingly being questioned as the roles of non-coding RNA (ncRNA) in cellular systems becomes recognised. The RNA world, including microRNA (miRNA), small inhibitory RNA (siRNA) and other RNA species, are now recognised as being crucial for the regulation of chromatin structure, gene expression, mRNA processing and splicing, mRNA stability and translational control. Furthermore such ncRNA systems may be perturbed in disease states and most notably in neoplasia, including in haematological malignancies. Here the burgeoning evidence for a role of miRNA in neoplasia is reviewed and the importance of understanding the RNA world emphasised.
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