J Cancer 2020; 11(24):7237-7245. doi:10.7150/jca.46055 This issue Cite
Review
1. Department 1 of General Surgery, the First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, China
2. Tumor Etiology and Screening Department of Cancer Institute and General Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, and Key Laboratory of Cancer Etiology and Prevention (China Medical University), Liaoning Provincial Education Department, Shenyang 110001, China
#, Equal contributor.
Transfer RNA-derived small RNA(tsRNA) is a type of non-coding tRNA undergoing cleavage by specific nucleases such as Dicer. TsRNAs comprise of tRNA-derived fragments (tRFs) and tRNA halves (tiRNAs). Based on the splicing site within the tRNA, tRFs can be classified into tRF-1, tRF-2, tRF-3, tRF-5, and i-tRF. TiRNAs can be classified into 5′-tiRNA and 3′-tiRNA. Both tRFs and tiRNAs have important roles in carcinogenesis, especially cancer of digestive system. TRFs and tiRNAs can promote cell proliferation and cell cycle progression by regulating the expression of oncogenes, combining with RNA binding proteins such as Y-box binding protein 1 (YBX1) to prevent transcription. Despite many reviews on the basic biological function of tRFs and tiRNAs, few have described their correlation with tumors especially gastrointestinal tumor. This review focused on the relationship of tRFs and tiRNAs with the biological behavior, clinicopathological characteristics, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of digestive system tumors, and would provide novel insights for the early detection and treatment of digestive system tumors.
Keywords: tsRNAs, tRFs, tiRNAs, tRNAs, digestive system tumors, cancer