Emerging roles of microRNA in modulating cell-death processes in glioma

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNA molecules that regulate protein expression by cleaving or repressing the translation of target mRNAs. In mammals, their function mainly represses the target mRNA transcripts via imperfect complementary sequences in the 3'UTR of target mRNAs. Several miRNAs have been recently reported to be involved in modulation of different genes in tumors, including glioblastoma, the most frequent brain tumor in adults. Despite the improvements in treatments, survival of patients remains poor, and glioblastoma appears like the most lethal form of human cancer. To define novel strategies against this tumor, emerging research investigated miRNAs involvement in glioblastoma tumor. In particular, this review is focused on miRNAs involved on the two principal programmed cell-death, apoptosis and autophagy. importantly, the discovery of the functional roles of miRNAs in regulating glioma cell-death has recently opened new avenues for effective therapeutic interventions.