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The scientific investigation of microRNAs (miRNAs) and cancer stem cells is of considerable interest. Cancer stem cells are a small subpopulation of cells identified in a variety of tumors and capable of self-renewal, differentiation, chemoresistance and tumorigenesis. MiRNAs are small (18-24 nucleotide) RNAs that regulate expression of genes at the post-transcriptional level. Recently, many studies have found several miRNAs that are either upregulated or downregulated in cancer stem cells when compared to non-cancerous cells from the same tissues. Importantly, miRNAs also have a demonstrable effect on cancer stem cell features, suggesting miRNAs may play a key regulatory role in the formation of cancer stem cells. Here we discuss the potentially highly significant contribution of miRNAs to the formation of cancer stem cells.
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Qian et al. (2011) studied this question.
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