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Updated: Mar 31, 2026

An In Vitro Protocol for Evaluating MicroRNA Levels, Functions, and Associated Target Genes in Tumor Cells
Published on: May 21, 2019
TGF-β-Regulated MicroRNAs and Their Function in Cancer Biology
Pengyuan Yang1, Yun Zhang2, Geoffrey J Markowitz2
1CAS Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunity, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
Abstract:
The transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) is known to regulate a large number of biological processes and is involved in various aspects of tumor development. Recent studies have shown that the biogenesis of miRNAs can be regulated by TGF-β signaling directly via Smad-dependent mechanisms and/or other unknown mechanisms, which may induce autoregulatory feedback loops in response to the activation of TGF-β signaling, influencing the fate of tumor cells. In this chapter, we summarize the currently described mechanisms underlying TGF-β's regulation of miRNA biogenesis, and the functional role of TGF-β-regulated miRNAs in tumor initiation, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and tumor microenvironment modulation. Finally, we introduce methods to study TGF-β-regulated miRNAs and their functions in tumor progression and metastasis using an example of publication from our lab demonstrating the presence of a TGF-β-miR-34a-CCL22 signaling axis, which serves as a potent etiological pathway for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma venous metastases.
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