%0 Journal Article %T Noncoding RNAs and cancer %A Ohad Yogev %A Dimitris Lagos %J Silence %D 2011 %I BioMed Central %R 10.1186/1758-907x-2-6 %X Understanding the mechanisms that regulate gene expression during cancer development is of paramount importance for the development of effective therapeutic regimens. The discovery of miRNAs, a class of noncoding RNA genes with a role in gene silencing [1-3], caused a dramatic increase in research activity aimed at unravelling the role of noncoding RNAs in cancer. It has now become apparent that it is necessary to study the function of miRNAs and other noncoding RNAs, which account for almost 40% of the human genome [4], and integrate these findings with our understanding of the functions of protein-coding genes, which compose almost 2% of the human genome, in cancer. During the 2011 Non-coding RNAs and Cancer Symposium in London, some fascinating aspects of the role of noncoding RNAs in cancer were discussed.miRNAs are a class of small noncoding RNAs, approximately 22 nucleotides long, that are involved in posttranscriptional gene regulation. They arise from intergenic or intragenic genomic regions and are transcribed as long primary transcripts. These primary transcripts undergo two processing steps that produce the mature form of the miRNA. Once processed, miRNAs are loaded into the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC), directing it to target mRNAs and causing posttranscriptional repression [5,6]. The discovery of miRNAs has led to profound changes in the understanding of eukaryotic gene-regulatory networks. Functional studies indicate that miRNAs participate in the regulation of almost every cellular process examined, and changes in their expression characterise several human diseases, including cancer. miRNAs constitute about 3% to 5% of predicted genes in the human genome, and about one-fourth of protein-coding genes are estimated to be regulated by them [7]. A growing amount of evidence proves that miRNAs can work as oncogenes by activating the malignant potential of cells or, conversely, as tumour suppressor genes by blocking this potential [5,8]. However, s %K noncoding RNA %K cancer %K microRNA %U http://www.silencejournal.com/content/2/1/6