MicroRNAs and the hallmarks of cancer

Abstract

A growing amount of evidences proves that microRNAs (miRNAs) can work as oncogenes (activating the malignant potential) or tumor suppressor genes (blocking the malignant potential) and they can affect all of the six hallmarks of cancer defined by Hanahan and Weinberg (2000) as: self-sufficiency in growth signals, insensitivity to growth inhibitory signals, evasion of apoptosis, limitless replicative potential, sustained angiogenesis and tissue invasion and metastasis. In this chapter we focus on miRNAs significance in these various aspects of cancer biology. ©2012 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.