Lead researcher
Dr Michael Gantier
Main finding
In this work we discovered that the stability of some microRNAs was dependent on their length. As such, we found that stimulation of cells with type-I interferon, resulted in the specific decrease of selected long microRNA families.
Centre
Centre for Innate Immunity & Infectious Diseases
Research group
Nucleic Acids and Innate Immunity
Journal and article title
Most surprising
This is the first description of an inducible degradation of microRNAs based on their length, and demonstrates the importance of microRNA length to understand their function.
Future implications
MicroRNAs have a lot of potential as disease biomarkers since they are secreted by cells in bodily fluids (blood, urine...). However there are less than 2000 microRNAs in humans, and their regulation is rarely restricted to a single disease.
It has recently been discovered that microRNAs can vary in length (between 18-26 bases), known as isoforms, and that selected microRNA isoforms are more likely to be disease specific.
Our work demonstrates that the level of isoforms can be dynamically regulated by immune responses, and suggests that the same would apply to diseases - supporting the concept that microRNA isoforms could be used as disease biomarkers.
Disease/health impact
Infectious diseases, cancer
