Cell Biology 2018

MicroRNA(miRNA) are short non-coding single-stranded RNA molecules that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. They are known to play a critical role in multiple biological processes including proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and hematopoiesis. Dysregulation of miRNA expression, therefore, is associated with a number of pathological conditions such as inflammation, cardiovascular diseases, neurological disorders and several types of cancers. miRNAs are also found to be extremely stable in body fluids such as serum, plasma, urine, breast milk, and saliva. Extracellular miRNAs are either packed into exosomes or loaded into high-density lipoproteins or bound by AGO2 proteins outside on vesicles. These modes of action protect miRNAs from degradation and improve their stability. Because of their stability in body fluids, miRNAs are gaining importance as biomarkers in liquid biopsies.

At present cancer research focuses on three major areas viz. cancer diagnostics, drugs development, and next-generation therapies. About 90% of the in-vitro research rely on traditional two-dimensional (2D) monolayer cell culture systems. 2D cell culture systems fail to accurately recapitulate the structure, function, physiology of living tissues, due to which the various studies such as assessing the efficacy of new drugs, study gene expressions, metabolic pathways, and cell proliferation do not correlate to actual In-vivo scenario.

More than US$55 billion has been invested in developing gene modification and cell therapy platforms over the past three years. While the science has advanced, the practical components of launch and optimizing

DNA defines who we are. And like anything else, sometimes there are mistakes – mutations in genes that can cause life-lasting conditions. But what if broken genes could be repaired? How many patients could we help in the years ahead? This is the promise and possibility of genome editing.