Role of microRNAs in oncogenesis: Insights from computational and
systems-level modeling approaches
Abstract
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short (~22 nucleotides)
non-coding RNAs that are often intricately integrated into the
regulatory networks of various cellular processes and govern the cell
fate decision making events associated with oncogenesis by regulating
the gene expression through post-transcriptional modifications. miRNAs
repress the target genes by either degrading the target mRNA or by
inhibiting the process of translation. However, mathematical and
computational modeling of miRNA-mediated target gene regulation in
various cellular network motifs suggests that miRNAs play a much more
complex role in cellular decision-making events. In this review, we give
an overview of the quantitative insights obtained from such kind of
mathematical modeling of miRNA mediated gene regulation by highlighting
the various factors associated with miRNA regulation that are pivotal in
diversifying the cell fate decisions related to oncogenesis.
Intriguingly, recent experiments suggest that miRNAs can even upregulate
the translation of the target protein under certain circumstances, which
may lead to more complexities in miRNA-mediated gene regulations. We
discussed possible avenues to explore such unusual biological
observations related to miRNA’s that can be modeled to get a detailed
understanding of the influence of miRNAs in the context of oncogenesis.