This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 0008-5472.CAN-09-0309v1 69/10/4093    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Google Scholar Articles by Wang, Y. Articles by Blelloch, R. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Wang, Y. Articles by Blelloch, R. Related Collections Cellular Pathobiology Cellular Pathobiology: Cancer Genes and Genomics Cellular Pathobiology: Proliferation, Senescence, and Death

Cell Cycle Regulation by MicroRNAs in Embryonic Stem Cells

¹ The Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research; ² Center for Reproductive Sciences; and ³ Department of Urology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California

Requests for reprints: Robert Blelloch, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143. Phone: 415-476-2838; Fax: 415-476-1635; E-mail: BlellochR{at}stemcell.ucsf.edu.

The cell cycle is tightly orchestrated during normal development. Embryonic stem (ES) cells have a unique cell cycle structure, in which the G1/S restriction is largely absent, enabling cells to rapidly move through the G1 phase and enter the S phase. This hastened cell cycle allows the early embryo to rapidly grow. Recent experiments suggest that small noncoding RNAs, the microRNAs (miRNAs), play a central role in achieving this unique cell cycle structure. The responsible miRNAs function by suppressing multiple inhibitors of the G1/S transition. Expression of these miRNAs drops dramatically as the ES cells differentiate and as the G1 phase extends. Some of the same miRNAs are overexpressed in cancers, in which they can promote tumor growth, suggesting common mechanisms of miRNA-regulated cell cycle control in ES cells and cancers. This review discusses these recent findings in the context of broader knowledge of cell cycle control in normal and abnormal development. [Cancer Res 2009;69(10):4093–6]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				G. C. Prendergast Neurotransmitters in Angiogenesis and Embryo miRNAs in Cancer Cell Division Cancer Reviews Online Content, June 1, 2009; 2009(6): 11 - 11. [Full Text] [PDF]