Role of MicroRNA-30c in cancer progression

MicroRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) is a non-coding small RNA of a type of 18~24 nucleotide-regulated gene that has been discovered in recent years. It mainly degrades the target gene mRNA or inhibits its translation process through the complete or incomplete bindings with 3'UTR of target genes, followed by the regulation of individual development, apoptosis, proliferation, differentiation and other life activities through the post-transcriptional regulation. Among many miRNAs, the microRNA family, miR-30, plays diverse roles in these key process of neoplastic transformation, metastasis, and clinical outcomes in different cancer progression. As key member of miR-30, miR-30c is regulated by oncogenic transcription factors and cancer progression related genes. Recently, numerous studies have demonstrated that the aberrant expression of miR-30c was significantly associated with the majority of human cancer progression. In this review, the diverse roles of miR-30c in different cancer progression such as the cellular and molecular mechanisms, the potential applications in clinics were summarized to speculate the benefits of miR-30c over-expression in cancer treatment and prognosis.