Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 25, 2026

MicroRNA Amplification and Recognition through Locked-nucleic-acid In situ Hybridization as a Novel Detection and Quantification Method
Published on: October 7, 2025
Role of variations within microRNA-binding sites in cancer
Debora Landi1, Federica Gemignani, Stefano Landi
1Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Via Derna 1, 56100 Pisa, Italy.
Abstract:
Over 2000 microRNA (miRNA) sequences from different species have been submitted to the miRBase, the central online repository for miRNAs, making a total of 5071 miRNA loci, expressing 5922 distinct mature miRNA sequences. In this review, we have addressed the importance of the genetic variations in humans affecting miRNAs, their target genes and the genes involved in miRNA processing for individual risk of cancer, with particular emphasis on colorectal cancer. In fact, the number of studies suggesting that individual predisposition to cancer is modulated by genetic polymorphisms affecting the biogenesis of miRNA and the interaction between miRNAs and targets has risen steeply in the last few years. We also report the first evidence that variant alleles of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within miRNA genes and miRNA targets, previously associated with the risk of cancer, behave differently when tested in functional studies. The SNPs belonging to the miRNA world are certainly contributing to new insights in the field of the genetic predisposition to disease.
Related Concept Videos
MicroRNAs
MicroRNAs
MicroRNAs
Histone Variants at the Centromere
Mismatch Repair
The Mutator Protein Family Plays a Key Role in DNA Mismatch Repair
The human genome has more than 3 billion base pairs of DNA per cell. Prior to cell division, that vast amount of genetic...
Epigenetic Regulation
X-chromosome...

