Klin Onkol 2014; 27(5): 331-339. DOI: 10.14735/amko2014331.
Summary
Neuroblastoma (NBL) is a typical childhood tumor developing from the precursor cells of the sympathetic nervous tissue and accounting for approximately 7% of total malignancies in pediatrics and 15% of deaths associated with this malignancy. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small single-stranded RNA molecules that are involved in posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression, whereas the pathophysiology of neuroblastoma tumor growth involves both upregulation of the protooncogenic miRNAs as well as downregulation of the tumor- suppresor ones. Comparison of the expression profiles of miRNAs in specific subtypes of neuroblastoma seems to be a useful tool adding to the classification of the diseases, and the assessment of the levels of specific miRNAs may be useful for estimation of the individual treatment response as well as prognosis of the patient. This paper provides the basic review of the studies focused on the role of miRNAs in pathogenesis of neuroblastoma and provides a survey of current/ possible use of these miRNAs in diagnostics, therapy or prognosis estimation in the neuroblastoma patients.
