The role of microRNA and other non-coding RNA in the pathogenesis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia

New findings support the view that chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a genetic disease in which the main alterations occur in a new class of genes named microRNAs (miRNAs). Cases with good prognostic features typically are characterized by miRNA down-regulation of genes miR-15a and miR-16-1, located at 13q14.3. Both microRNAs negatively regulate BCL2 at a post-transcriptional level. On the other hand, in CLL cases that use unmutated immunoglobulin heavy-chain variable-region genes (IgVH) or have high-level expression of the 70-kD zeta-associated protein (ZAP-70) have high levels of TCL1 due to low-level expression of miR-29 and miR-181, which directly target this oncogene. Conceivably, these miRNAs might be used to target BCL2 or TCL1 for therapy of this disease.